Top Ten Tuesday: A new start

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is "Destination Titles (titles with name of places in them. These places can be real or fiction!) (this was a topic Rachel @ Sunny Side came up with for a freebie week last year and has let me steal it!)". 

Now I have done this topic numerous times in one variation or another and I probably could just do another whole post with Paris in the title and not duplicate from the last time I did it, but I will save that for Paris in July next year.

Instead, this week, I am going to keep it simple. These are the last ten books I have read where one or both of the main characters has moved to a new location. Most of these will be escape lit - set in other countries like France and Italy but others are just new starts in the character's home country:

Poppy's Parisian Patisserie by Daisy James - Poppy is a baker who goes to Paris to help out in the patisserie owned by her brother's friend. (review)

An Island Promise by Kate Frost - Three friends come back together in Ibiza ten years after a momentous holiday. (review)

A French Country Escape by Jennifer Bohnet - A brother and sister move to France for a new start (review)

Falling for Provence by Alison Roberts - Ellie agrees to stay in Provence to renovate the cottage that she and her sisters have inherited (review)

The Little Provence Book Shop by Gillian Harvey - Adeline and her daughter move to France after finding out that she was adopted as a child (review)

One Winter at the French Chalet by Mandy Baggot - Journalist Orla accepts a last minute job in a small village called Saint-Chambéry to write a story about a mute man and a pregnant reindeer. (review)

In Italy for Love by Leonie Mack - Jules moved to Italy for love, but it didn't work out. Now she is going to work on a homestay farm for as long as it takes for her to be able to head back to Australia. (review)

A Recipe for Christmas by Jo Thomas - Clara takes a risk and moves to Switzerland where she is going to do a fun course in chocolate making. I am planning to review this one shortly

The Bookshop at the Cornish Cove by Kim Nash - Dennis is visiting his grandmother in Driftwood Bay when he meets Nancy who runs the local bookshop (review)

A Little Place in Prague by Julie Caplin - Anna is moving to Prague for a few months for a cultural exchange. She doesn't expect to meet her ex, Leo, there. (review)

Do you enjoy a new start romance?

Top Ten Tuesday: Holiday countdown!

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Ten Favorite Books from Ten Series (We all have a favorite book in our favorite series, right?) (submitted by A Hot Cup of Pleasure)

However, I have holidays on my mind, so I am going to do the last ten books I have read that have given me holiday vibes. Lucky I read a lot of escape lit at the moment!

An Island Promise by Kate Frost - Three friends go on holidays to Ibiza and promise that in 10 years time they will do it all again, except everything is different.

The Stolen Hours by Karen Swan - This book doesn't have a holiday feel at all, but it is set in Scotland and that is one of the places we are visiting.

Poppy's Parisian Patisserie by Daisy James - Poppy goes to Paris to work, but I would love to go back for holidays again and again. (my review)

Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum - I picked this one because we are going to Korea next year.

The One That I Want by Sandy Barker - This doesn't really have holiday vibes either, but it is all about London, which is one of our destinations this time. (my review)

A Love Letter from Paris by Rebecca Raisin - Paris! Paris! Paris!! (my review)

The Itinerary by Penny Pentley - This is a fun read in which the main characters starts a European trip in Rome and ends up in France.

The Riviera House Swap by Gillian Harvey - The idea of being able to swap houses and spend some time on the French Riviera sounds amazing! (my review)

The Golden Gal's French Adventure by Judy Leigh - The two main characters in this story, head off to the north of France for a life changing holiday. (my review)

A Wedding in the Sun by Leonie Mack - Two people end up getting into all sorts of adventures on the way to the wedding of their exes. (my review)

What kind of books give you holiday vibes?

This week....

I'm reading

I feel like this was a good reading week. I finished Poppy's Parisian Patisserie by Daisy James, and then I went back and finished reading The Stolen Hours by Karen Swan. This was my read on a theme book club book for this month, with the theme being Scotland. The third book in the Wild Isle series has just been released so I will be keen to see how the story resolves itself.

I am also trying to squeeze one more book in before the end of Paris in July, so I started reading French Windows by Antoine Laurain.


I'm watching


If you had of told me 5 years ago that I would be happy to sit and watch multiple episodes of Gogglebox I would have laughed at you. And yet, that is exactly what I have been doing a lot of this week.  

Of course, we have also been watching a fair bit of Olympics. As I type this I am watching some of the men's diving. It is a bit weird to hear one of our cricket commentators doing the commentating on the diving though.

Over the weekend we also watched The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, which is the new Guy Ritchie WWII movie. It reminded me a lot of the TV series we watched last year called Rogue Heroes. The movie is loosely based on true events....very loosely I would suggest.

Here is the trailer




Life

It is starting to get close to our holiday so I am trying to keep things low key at the moment

Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: First Books!

Paris in July: Paris Songs!

Blog Tour: The One That I Want by Sandy Barker

Blog Tour: Poppy's Parisian Patisseries by Daisy James

Weekend Cooking: Champagne Widows by Rebecca Rosenberg

Paris in July: Antoine Laurain

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

Paris in July/Blog Tour: Poppy's Parisian Patisserie by Daisy James

 

Oh no! I've been seduced into reading the fourth sixth book in a series when I haven't read the first three four books. What was it that seduced me?

Picture of Paris on the cover

Paris in the title

Patisseries

Proliferation of alliteration in the title

And it turns out this is my second book in a row that has a main character called Poppy!

Poppy is having a run of bad luck. Her chocolate making business has closed due to a fire, she still hasn't really moved on from her disastrous last relationship, and she has well and truly withdrawn from dating anyone. When she finds herself with a few weeks spare, her brother asks her to pop over to Paris and help out in his friend's patisseries. Olivier has had an unfortunate accident which left him with two broken arms and so he needs all the hands he can get (pun intended) to keep his patisserie running.

Poppy quickly makes friends with her eccentric landlady, with the her co-workers, and the shop owners from the surrounding shops. Soon, Poppy finds  herself seeing Paris through the eyes of her French friends, enjoying events that would be unusual for a normal tourist to experience. And as for romance, well Poppy is now living in the city of love. Of course there's romance in the air.

I normally try not to read books in a series out of order. I do think this is a book where it would have benefitted to have read the earlier books. It feels like there were a lot of loose ends that were tied up in this book, and there were quite a few references to people where I had to wait to try and figure out what was going on. I guess the gauge is whether I would go back and read the earlier books in the series, and I think I would!

I love escapist reads which take you to somewhere else and Daisy James is great at this. There were multiple times where I caught myself thinking either oh my goodness this brings back such great memories from our visit to Paris, or, oh my goodness I wish we had of visited there. I also loved the way that James spoke about food and books! All my favourite things to read about!

So, while I did really notice the reading out of order thing, I did find the rest of the story to be a lot of fun and entertaining.

I am sharing this review with my fellow participants in Paris in July (hosted at Words and Peace) and the New Release Challenge, hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog, and Foodie Reads hosted at Based on a True Story. Thanks to the publisher and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy!

I thought I would finish by sharing a photo that I took the night we went to dinner at the Jules Verne restaurant at the Eiffel Tower.

About the book

Poppy’s Parisian Patisserie

Escape to chic and glamorous Paris!

When Poppy Phillipson loses her chocolate-making business in the Blossomwood Bay fire, she’s heart-broken; all her hopes and dreams wiped out in the space of an hour. As if that wasn’t enough, her last three dates were a complete disaster – one two-hour lecture on the intricacies of the off-side rule, one no-show, and an embarrassing abandonment mid-date – and she’s having a hard time not to take it personally.

So, when her brother asks her to come to the rescue of his friend Olivier Bourdain, owner of Pâtisserie Madeliene, following a freak skiing accident, she decides it’s the perfect way to escape the Devonshire drizzle and enjoy a petit sojourn from all-thing romance exploring the boutiques and boulevards of elegant Paris.

However, when she meets handsome French chef Fabien Dumont, with his sexy accent and dark brooding eyes, her determination to take a dating hiatus is severely tested. Should she concentrate on improving her skills as a pâtissière, or should she throw caution to the wind and embrace everything the City of Light has to offer… including the possibility of love?

Join Poppy as she heads to the dazzling city of Paris, and enjoy a story filled with delicious French pâtisserie and a soupçon of heart-warming romance.

Purchase Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0CX9N1JLL

About the author  –

Daisy James loves writing stories with strong heroines and swift-flowing plotlines. She especially likes to create sunshine-filled settings in exotic locations - the Caribbean, Tuscany, Cornwall, Provence - so she can spend her time envisioning her characters enjoying the fabulous scenery and sampling the local food and drink.

When not scribbling away in her peppermint-and-green summerhouse (garden shed), she spends her time sifting flour and sprinkling sugar and edible glitter. She loves gossiping with friends over a glass of something fizzy or indulging in a spot of afternoon tea - china plates and teacups are a must.

Daisy would love to hear from readers via her website – daisyjames.co.uk, or her Facebook page or you can follow her on Twitter @daisyjamesbooks, or on Instagram @daisyjamesstories.

 

Social Media Links – https://www.facebook.com/daisyjamesbooks/

https://www.instagram.com/daisyjamesstories/

https://x.com/daisyjamesbooks

This Week...

Life

On Sunday we went to a cafe in the inner city suburbs where they were advertising Parisian Hot Chocolate, and I have to say it was worth  the drive. What is that, you may ask? Well, it was a very thick drinking chocolate that comes with a big serving of cream. We had a ham and cheese croissant and then shared a banoffee cream croissant which was oh my goodness good. The cafe only does the Parisian Hot Chocolate during winter, but all the food looks so good, we can see ourselves going back again.

It did make me reminisce on all the delicious hot chocolates we had when we were travelling through Europe, which I posted about here.

This follows our visit to a German Christmas Market on Saturday which I am counting as our Christmas in July for this year. It was a bit cold and rainy (it is winter after all) but we got to enjoy some mulled wine and there was a nice vibe. We intended to grab some dinner there but the queue for the Bratwurst sausages was at least an hour long, so we ended up going to the local pub for their Christmas in July menu. We do try to do something for Christmas in July most years!

I also had a work offsite this week which was in a gorgeous location and with great food! It was an enjoyable couple of days but quite full on!

I'm reading

After a slow reading week last week, this was a much better week in terms of the number of books read. I read both Secrets in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen, which I reviewed last week here), and The One That I Want by Sandy Barker which I will review this week. I also started reading Poppy's Parisian Patisserie by Daisy James

I finished listening to Sidelines by Karen Viggers, which was an interesting read. It's not my normal type of read but I did enjoy it in the end. It covered a number of issues. I then wanted a change of pace and so I started listening to Funny Story by Emily Henry.


I'm watching

It was the finale of Masterchef Australia this week. Whilst I am not going to spoil the results, I can say that I wasn't the biggest fan of the winner. Never mind. Bring on Dessert Masters!

I did  start watching a British show called Extraordinary Extensions. The show is basically a home renovation show. It is hosted by rapper Tinie Tempah, which gives the home renovation genre a bit of a twist. The renovations they are featuring are amazing, featuring people who make very brave design decisions and do something different with their houses. Oops...apparently the host just goes by the name Tinie now.

Other than that, I did watch a couple of movies. I watched the new Harry Connick Jr movie set in Cyprus - Finding Me Falling. It was pretty standard rom com and it was ... you know...fine. Harry Connick Jnr stars as a faded rock star who buys a house on a clifftop in Cyprus. When he runs into an old flame, things change more than he could ever imagine.

After our fancy brunch, we went to see Arctic Convoy (Konvoi) which is showing as part of the Scandinavian Film Festival. This is a Norwegian film which tells the story of an Arctic convoy which plied the seas from Norway to the USSR, providing much needed provisions in the depths of WWII. It was a pretty good movie, although it did lose it's way a little bit at times. It was certainly dramatic. Here's the trailer.

Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Things I Love About Books Set in France

Blog Tour: Secrets in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen
Weekend Cooking/Paris in July: The Taste of Things

Paris in July: Paris: Impressions of Life 1880-1925




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

Top Ten Tuesday: A new start

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Books for People Who Liked Author X


Rather than talk about a specific author X, I am sharing ten authors who write escape fiction. That probably isn't actually the right name for it, but generally it is books that feature someone making a new start in a new location. Often there are foodie elements, but not always. The covers are often cartoony in style, so it is relatively easy to pick them. I have a lot of books set in France or Italy so I am going to resist the urge to just have those on the list!

Hopeful Hearts at the Cornish Cove by Kim Nash - Read this a couple of weeks ago. Will have the review up later this week.


The Little Venice bookshop by Rebecca Raisin - Read this a couple of days ago! Will have a review of this one next week.

One French Summer by Gillian Harvey - Read this one a couple of months ago (review here)


Retreat to the Spanish Sun by Jo Thomas - I have read a couple of Jo Thomas books now. One was set in France, another at Christmas markets in Germany. This one is on my Kindle to read at some point

The Little Teashop in Tokyo by Julie Caplin - I haven't read either this author or the next one, but I do have both of these books on my Kindle.


Tilly's Tuscan Tea Shop by Daisy James - Tea anyone?

A Cottage Full of Secrets by Jane Lovering - This one is set in Yorkshire!


An Escape to Remember by TA Williams - This is another book set in Italy, this time near Turin.

The Cafe at Seashell Cove by Karen Clarke - I'm not entirely sure where Seashell Cove is!


Snowflakes and Secrets in the Scottish Highlands by Donna Ashcroft - Scotland! Yes, please!

Can you believe I haven't got a single Jenny Colgan book on this list and there are plenty of other authors that I have missed too! Do you have any recommendations for this kind of read?