Blog Tour: The Island of Hope and Dreams by Kate Frost

 

Lola Wild has just come out of a really bad relationship so spending time with her friends on a hen's weekend is exactly what she needs. However, she also knows that this is the beginning of more change. Her best friend, Mirabel, is getting married in Sardinia and then she is staying there permanently. All of her other friends have established lives, married, with or without children as per their own choices. And here is Lola, with a great job in the music industry, but single. She hasn't really even shared what really happened with her ex, Jarek with any of them. They know bits and pieces but not the whole story.

What she probably doesn't really need is their friendly encouragement to hook up with someone while they are at the wedding destination. The last time that happened it was a disaster, and Lola doesn't need any more stories. It's a funny story now, but it definitely wasn't at the time.

By the time everyone arrives in Sardinia a month later she is ready, or at least she thinks she is. Everyone has come together to spend some time with the happy couple in the days leading up to the wedding. There is drama, of course, especially between the parents of the happy couple who aren't really getting along that well. 

When she meets the groom's friend Rhys, she sees an opportunity to protect herself from the interference of her well-meaning friends. If she and Rhys can pretend that they have hooked up, there will be no more in appropriate suggestions. Rhys has his own reasons for agreeing to the arrangement. His ex has now coupled up with one of his old mates, and they are very much rubbing it in his face. It's just an uncomfortable situation all round.

Rhys isn't Lola's normal type. She normally goes for the really good looking, buff guys. Not that Rhys isn't good looking. He's just quiet, a man who loves crafting things out of wood, and a teacher. He is, however, also trying to figure out what he wants from life. Does he want to continue teaching or is there something else in his future?

When Lola receives texts from an unknown number and messages, she starts to get concerned that maybe Jarek knows where she is. She is, however, determined to have a great time and focus on her time in Sardinia and her best friend's wedding.

I have read a number of Kate Frost books now, and I really love how she includes the destination in her books. Sardinia is front and centre here, and had me wishing that I could go and spend time on the island.

I also loved the friendship dynamics, particularly among Lola's friends. It was more complication with Rhys's group but they still found a way to support each other. I loved seeing how everyone came together to support and protect Lola when she needed it.

I wanted to specifically mention the ending of this book, although no spoilers. Before he met Lola, Rhys had made some plans of what he was going to be doing for the next few months. I really liked that those plans weren't changed just because he had now met Lola. They had to work to build their budding relationship. It wasn't just...and now they live happily ever after. At least not straight away.

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews. Be sure to check out other stops on the tour shown below. Thanks to the publisher, Netgalley and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy. 

Rating 4/5

About the book

The Island of Hopes and Dreams

When the beginning of the end is just the start…

Newly single Lola Wild has had her fill of well-intentioned matchmaking friends. Her best friend Mirabel’s hen weekend highlights all that’s wrong with Lola’s life and she knows something has to change.

With Mirabel’s luxurious wedding in Sardinia fast approaching, Lola is looking forward to switching off, spending time with her friends and keeping her non-existent love life off everyone’s agenda.

Meanwhile, fellow wedding guest Rhys Strickland has his own problems. So when a chance encounter brings Rhys and Lola together they decide to help each other out.

To the idyllic backdrop of white sand beaches and azure bays, they bond over shared heartache, and friendship blossoms as they attempt to navigate the hurt and hard truths of past relationships.

Opening up their hearts and embracing change might be the last thing they expected, but what if a holiday of make-believe can turn into something real?

A heart-warming and uplifting story of vulnerability, self-renewal and finding love when you least expect to.

 Purchase Link - https://mybook.to/TheIslandof

About the Author

Kate Frost is the author of several bestselling romantic escape novels including A Greek Island Escape, and An Island in the Sun. She lives in Bristol and is the Director of Storytale Festival, a book festival for children and teens she co-founded in 2019.

Social Media Links –

Facebook: @katefrostauthor

Twitter: @katefrostauthor

Instagram: @katefrostauthor

Newsletter Sign Up:

https://bit.ly/KateFrostNewsletter

Bookbub profile: @KateFrost

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Winter 2025 to-read list

 Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books on My Summer Winter 2025 to-Read List.

A couple of weeks ago I shared the first 10 of my 20 books that I plan to read for the 20 Books of Winter event hosted by Emma from Words and Peace and Annabel from Annabookbel. Today I am sharing the rest of the books I plan to read. 

The Last Love Note by Emma Grey - I loved Pictures of You when I read it earlier this year so I am really looking forward to this one. 

The Library of Heartbeats by Laura Imai Messina - This sounds like such a lovely read. 

Emily Wildes Encyclopeadia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett - I have been not so gently encouraged to read this book for a while!

The Storytellers by Sue Heath - I am so excited for this book. The Secret Ingredient was one of my favourite books last year. 

The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn - I have had this on my Kindle for 3 years. I actually already read and reviewed this one.  (My review)

Over the Sea to Skye by Sue Moorcroft  - I have already read and reviewed this one too. (My review)

Butter by Asako Yuzuki  - Every now and again my read on a theme book club reads the same book. This is the book we are going to read for our August meeting.

The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson. I recently read her latest book. Having read and love both her first and latest books I had to read the one in the middle that I haven't read yet.

DallerGut Dream Department Store by Lee Mi-Ye - Can't remember where I heard about this book but I currently have it out of the library, along with a few others that I didn't include on this list. Not sure when I will read those!

The Butterfly Women by Madeleine Cleary - I am going to an author event for this book soon so will definitely want to read it after hearing the author talk

So now I have put my 20 Books of Winter out into the world. Now to read them all!

Do you have any of these books on your list this week?

This week...

Max


Who's a good birthday boi! Max turned 3 last week. Over the last 8 months or so he has had some pretty significant health issues so we weren't always sure that he would make it to 3 but he did! We think he is now going blind so we'll see what happens this year. For now, we are giving him the best life we can!

I'm reading

This week I read The Woman Who Got Her Spark Back by Fiona Gibson which was fun. My review is here.

I was then very surprised to find out that there had been a fourth short story in the Once Upon a Time Book Stories by Alice Hoffman. It was  released back in February and I have no idea how I missed it! As soon as I found out about it I had to read it. It is called The Bookstore Family and I really enjoyed it. I like how she manages to pack so much into stories that are no more than 40 or so pages. Now I need to decide which full length book I should read by her.

I did have a very strange moment this week where I wasn't read anything other than my War and Peace readalong (and to be fair I was am a bit behind on that anyway). I had finished my audiobook, my Kindle book and my physical book and I had no idea what I was going to read next in any format. Too many options to be able to make a decision.

In the end I decided to listen to Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Dame Judi Dench which is a rare foray into non-fiction for me. It isn't narrated by her though although the narrator who is playng her is doing a great job in my opinion. Basically it is a friend of hers, another actor called Brendan O'Hea, asking her questions to prompt her thoughts of memories of the various roles she has played in Shakespeare productions. I am really loving hearing her thought processes which do a great job of bringing the humanness of Shakespeare to the fore. Definitely makes it seem much more approachable than we think of Shakespeare now!

After my period of indecision, I decided to read A Secret Garden in Paris by Sophie Beaumont. I really enjoyed her last book, The Paris Cooking School, and I liked this one a lot too. I'll have a review up for this in a few weeks once Paris in July starts.

For a physical book I started reading Half Truth by Nadia Mahjouri. I met Nadia at the Rachael Johns Readers Retreat in Perth a few weeks ago and knew I had to read it after hearing her speak about her book!

We had a few hours of flying time over the weekend and I was able to take advantage of this by reading The Island of Hopes and Dreams by Kate Frost on the way up to Brisbane and then Once Upon a Thyme by Jane Lovering. I also started reading Not My Greek Wedding by Sue Roberts. All three of these are blog tour books so I will have the reviews up soon. 

I'm watching

I watched a movie called Firebrand which basically telling the story King Heny VIII's last wife, Katherine Parr. It shows a woman who has some pretty strong religious beliefs which bring her to odds with Henry in the last days of his life. I am not sure it is totally historically accurate but it is an interesting movie to watch. It stars Jude Law as King Henry and Alicia Vikander as Katherine.

Last week we started re-watching Ted Lasso.  I had been seeing lots of clips online and it made me want to go right back to the beginning. What a joy that show is! We finished the first season and I imagine we will continue with season two this week.

Life


We had to do a quick trip to Brisbane this weekend as it was my stepdaughter's 30th birthday. We flew up Friday night and back Sunday afternoon. On Saturday we took advantage of the great weather and went for a drive to look at Moreton Bay and then on Saturday night we had dinner at Skydeck. We were sitting outside on the viewing deck (yes, it's winter here and it was a bit cool but there were heaters). I have to say, the food was amazing! Amazing!

I did get a little bit excited as I started seeing ads saying Paris comes to Brisbane and there was a 4 story Eiffel Tower at Southbank so I made my poor husband traipse over the river to see it, but it was a little bit underwhelming really! Will just have to plan another trip to see the real thing

The only downside, I had picked up some germs before we went away so I was feeling pretty average a lot of the time, and flying does not help! I think I am going to be taking it very easy for the first few days of this week.


Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: Book Titles That Remind Me of a Song
Blog Tour: Over the Sea to Skye by Sue Moorcroft
Blog Tour: The Woman Who Got Her Spark Back by Fiona Gibson
The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn
Weekend Cooking: Sticky Apricot Chicken Drumsticks
Sunday Salon: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - May Statistics


I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date and Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz

Sunday Salon: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - May statistics

Every month I share some of the statistics related to the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I try very hard to visit every post which has been linked (time permitting) and I find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! I often end up adding a couple of books to my never ending TBR list.

In terms of the books read in May, there were 59 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 21 participants. There were 57 individual titles reviewed, written by 56 different authors. There were 4 reviewers who reviewed 5 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 9 or just 1.

So which books were reviewed more than once in May? There were two books that were reviewed twice!

Six Days in Bombay was reviewed by two Laura's: Laura at Reading Books Again and Laura at Laura's Reviews.

Traitor's Legacy by S.J. Parris was read by Helen at She Reads Novels and by Cathy at What Cathy Read Next. This is the first book in a new series which is a spin off from the long running Giordano Bruno series.

Laura from Laura's Reviews is working her way through Jane Austen's books in honour of her 250th birthday. This month she shared reviews for Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion.

The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction was announced this week. The 2025 winner is The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller. This has been reviewed for the challenge by Cathy at What Cathy Read Next where she said

Although things do happen, some of them quite dramatic, The Land in Winter is essentially a beautifully crafted, character-led novel.

I wonder what books will be featured next month! In next month's post I will share some statistica for the year so far given that we will be half way through the challenge at that point! Hard to believe but it is true!

If you love historical fiction and reading challenges, it isn't too late to join us! All the details can be found in the sign up post.

I am sharing this with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz

Weekend Cooking: Sticky Apricot Chicken Drumsticks

The 1970's called and want their recipe back!

Do you ever have moments of nostalgia where you think of a recipe and then you need to make it? For me, as soon as I saw this in the Coles supermarket magazine in April, it was the recipe that we needed to try.

Whilst the recipe is relatively faithful to the original, making it using drumsticks does mean that it is pretty much doable as a weeknight meal. I did have to laugh when I made it the first time. We always cook our rice in the microwave, and when I added the peas my husband came into the room and asked what I had done to the rice.

I didn't have any Moroccan seasoning either time I made it. The first time I just didn't worry about it, but the second time I decided to make a small amount rather than the full amount using this recipe from Bowls are the New Plate. Because I only wanted a small amount I ended up adapting the recipe so I used the following measurements

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
0 teaspoon ground cloves (because I didn't have any)
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Yes, I had to do maths!

If I forget to buy some Moroccan Seasoning I would make this mix again as it definitely made it taste interesting.

I did find the sauce a bit thin so we tried to thicken it up using a cornflour paste, but when I make it again I think I will not put all the juice in with the apricots. Maybe just half would be enough.

Sticky Apricot Chicken Drumsticks with Rice

1/3 cup (110g) apricot jam
1 tbs Moroccan seasoning
40g pkt Coles Simply French Onion Soup Mix
1.5kg Coles RSPCA Approved Chicken Drumsticks
700g can apricot halves in juice
3/4 cup (185ml) salt-reduced chicken stock
1 1/2 cups (300g) white long-grain rice
1 cup (120g) frozen peas
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
Flat-leaf parsley sprigs, to serve


Preheat oven to 180°C. Combine the jam, seasoning and soup mix in a bowl to form a thick paste. Place chicken in a large baking dish. Spoon over jam mixture and rub to coat. Season. Bake for 20 mins. Add apricot, apricot juice and stock. Bake, spooning over the pan juices occasionally, for a further 30-40 mins or until chicken is golden and cooked through.


Meanwhile, place the rice and 3 cups (750ml) water in a medium saucepan over high heat. Bring to the boil. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 15 mins or until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed. Top with the peas. Cover and set aside for 10 mins to steam. Season and use a fork to separate the grains.


Top chicken with spring onion and parsley. Serve with the rice mixture.

Weekly meals

Saturday - Out for dinner
Sunday - Chicken Schnitzels on Turkish Bread
Monday - Pork Chops, Marsala Roast Potatoes, Broccoli
Tuesday - Sticky Apricot Chicken Drumsticks
Wednesday - Kimchi Fried Rice
Thursday - Spaghetti Bolognaise
Friday - Away

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn

 

Do you have a book that is a go to when anyone asks for recommendations? I have a few, one of which is The Rose Code by Kate Quinn. Do you want a really good read? Have I told you about The Rose Code by Kate Quinn? Do you want a good WWII story? The Rose Code. WWII from a female experience? The Rose Code. Which makes it even more unfathomable that it has taken me more than three years to read this book and she has published two more since then. Maybe I was worried that this book wouldn't live up to The Rose Code, but I needn't have worried.

So what prompted me to finally read this book? My read on a theme book club has chosen War as it's next theme and when I looked through my Kindle this one jumped out at me. I think I have about 50 books that will fit the theme but this was where I started.

Lyudmila Pavlichenko is a young mother who is separated from her much older manipulative husband who refuses to take the final steps required to finalise their divorce. Supported by her parents as she raises her son, Slavka, she is studying history and working at the public library. Taunted by him, she also takes up marksmanship, a skill which will give her an unexpected trajectory into Soviet history.

When war breaks out, Mila was among the thousands of young women who signed up to fight for the Soviet Army and soon her skill with her gun sees her becoming a sniper. This isn't only about being able to kill an adversary with a single shot, although with her life motto of "Don't Miss" Mila is very focussed on that, it is also about being able to wait in silence for hours watching, calculating, almost stalking her mark. Soon her hit count is rising, and yet, as is true for so many women who perform amazing tasks in war, the recognition that she should get for her skill is very slow in being given. 

The portrayal of war is very detailed about the conditions, about the injuries and death, and the very specific skills a sniper must have and use on a daily basis. However, we also see a Mila who is trying desperately to remain connected to her true self and her son by sending him different types of leaves that she finds.  She also carries her dissertation around with her every where she goes in the hope that she will finish it one day.

Interspersed with Mila's war stories are sections which tell of her visit to the US where she was sent along with others to try and convince the US of the need for a second war front to help relieve the pressure on the Soviet Army against the Germans. Here, Mila meets and befriends Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of the American president. She also has to brave the belittling press pack who don't necessarily believe that she is a sniper and so ask her about her underwear and other inane questions. 

Here is where the story deviates from the known history, with the introduction of an unnamed character who has a plan where Mila will take the blame for his actions which, had they been successful, would have completely changed the course of the war.

I loved the various methods and voices  that Quinn uses to tell the story. We see Mila through diary entries made by Mrs Roosevelt, we hear from her adversary and all through the text we see Mila's humour as she shares lines from her official memoir along with those of her unofficial version. For example, here is one from very early in the book

My memoir, the official version: Every woman remembers her first.

My memoir, the unofficial version: Those words mean very different things for me than most women

In the hands of a lesser author, it would have been possible that this story could have been very bleak and upsetting, but balanced between the injuries, death, and fighting there are moments of joy, mostly found through the friendships and yes, love, that Mila finds on the battlefield and in her life.

It is interesting looking at the events of this book through the lens of the current situation between Ukraine and Russia. A lot of the action takes place in the Ukraine and Lyudmila Pavlichenko was born in what we would now call Ukraine. At the time that the book is set, Mila was a proud Soviet. It is likely that if she was still around Mila would rather be addressed as a proud Ukrainian that is just a guess on my part. 

And now if I am asked for a reading recommendation about women in war I will have to say have you read The Rose Code or The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn.

I am sharing this review with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here at The Intrepid Reader and Baker. This is also one of my nominated 20 Books of Winter, and at 435 pages counts as a Big Book of Summer (well Winter but you know what I mean!). Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the review copy. Sorry it's so late!

Rating 4.5/5

Blog Tour: The Woman Who Got Her Spark Back by Fiona Gibson

 

It's fair to say Celia Bloom lives a very beige life. She and her husband Geoff watch every penny, she dresses very sensibly, she has a job she doesn't really mind, she hasn't had her hair properly styled in forever and her main social life is with her neighbour Terri.  The only things that bring her any kind of joy are her son and the plant hospital that she runs out of her house. Even that has to be contained to just one room otherwise Geoff gets upset. 

When she gets invited to her best friend from school's glamourous wedding she is quite surprised. She has barely spoken to Amanda for years. Geoff won't come with her to the wedding, so she feels quite out of place.

Fast forward a few months and Celia is having a particularly bad day, as you do when you have recently caught your husband in bed with someone else in the mouldy caravan that he has inherited from his parents. When French school teacher Enzo comes knocking at her door with a particularly sick looking cactus named Spike, she turns him away, but also feels bad about that almost immediately. When she runs into Enzo again, she agrees to see if she can work out what is wrong. This is a huge relief to Enzo who can't face telling his young daughter, Matilde, that he has killed the cactus. Enzo and his ex-wife are navigating co-parenting very well, but he is struggling to get back into the dating scene.

The last thing Celia needs is Amanda inviting herself to stay for an indefinite period, without even having the energy to wonder why she would turn up out of the blue like that! For all that Amanda looks like she has everything together, she really doesn't. She has just been told that her TV job is coming to an end as they need someone younger, her toyboy husband is driving her crazy and she just needs to get away. 

Amanda decides that she is going to help Celia. After all she does have experience doing makeovers on TV. With Amanda taking charge, Celia begins to live a little more taking small steps like trying a new haircut, a new fragrance, getting some new clothes and more. Soon it is more than just a cosmetic makeover, it's a life makeover.

It's funny. When the book began I saw Celia as being my own age or a bit older (which is mid to late 50s) so when it began to look as though there might be a spark of interest there it puzzled me for a moment. However when I did the maths, Enzo and Celia were much closer in age that I had remembered. I guess that is the whole point of the story. Celia was almost invisible until something happened to give her the opportunity to take a chance on a new life. 

Plants are a bit part of Celia's story. It's her special gift. It's fair to say that I don't have that same gift.  A while ago we had the idea to put up a vertical garden on a fence that we can see from our living room. It was going to be nice to see cascading greenery whenever we looked out. Now, we see a wall of black plastic pots and some of those got eaten when we had my stepdaughter's dog staying with us. That probably sounds dreadful but we do have a nice patch of grass that my husband takes great pride in, especially now that dog is gone and so there are no new holes being dug. 

It's funny though. The next book I picked up to read was all about gardens too. Maybe the universe is trying to tell me something!

I hadn't read Fiona Gibson before, and I have to say I enjoyed this book a lot. The good news is that there are lots of other books on her backlist, and quite a few of them have fun titles like this one.

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews. Be sure to check out other stops on the tour shown below. Thanks to the publisher, Netgalley and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy. 

Rating 4/5

About the Book

The Woman Who Got Her Spark Back

Is it ever too late to bloom?

Meet Celia. Life hasn’t worked out quite how she’d planned.

Since her son left for university, Celia has felt stuck at home – battling with her husband Geoff over control of the thermostat, and without the merest glint of a social life. Her only joy comes from the plants she nurtures in her makeshift plant hospital in their Glasgow flat.

Then three unexpected things happen:

• She catches Geoff in bed with a secretary from his sausage factory (no pun intended).
• Her high-flying best friend Amanda arrives on her doorstep without warning (but with a very large suitcase).
• A tall handsome French teacher asks her to tend his daughter’s cactus back to health.

Suddenly, Celia finds her life in freefall, but she makes a decision: she won’t let this be the end of her. She’ll bring herself back to life, just like the plants she works her magic on. But just how do you change the habits of a lifetime?

Purchase Link - https://mybook.to/GotHerSparkBack

About the Author –

Fiona Gibson writes bestselling and brilliantly funny novels about the craziness and messiness of family life.

Social Media Links –

Facebook: @fionagibsonauthor

Twitter: @FionaGibson

Instagram: @fiona_gib

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/FionaGibsonNews

Bookbub profile: @FionaGib