A Short History of Longans by Mirandi Riwoe

Last year I read Sunbirds by Mirandi Riwoe and I loved it, so I was very excited when I saw that she had a new book coming out. Everything I have read from her so far has been historical, so it was a bit of a surprise when this book started in 2049.

Daniel is an elderly recluse who lives alone by choice. His life was shaped by a great tragedy which he is happy to have relegated to the past, but unfortunately, every now and again, other people want to reexamine those events. He spends his days making sculptures which he creates by breaking and reassembling different pieces of china, often those that have come down through his family over the years.

On the day of the big storm, Daniel's longan tree is destroyed. As he tries to clear the tree from the path, his neighbour Olivia Chong visits, and soon Daniel can't keep her away. She is very surprised to find that he has a Chinese altar inside his small house which he explains by saying that it was his dad's and that a few generations back there was a Chinese ancestor, who allegedly was a bushranger, who had a child with an Irish woman.

From Daniel's story, we move back through the generations to his aunt Wendy who is battling dementia, to her aunt who had left Australia to try and be a movie star in Hollywood in the late 1940s. battling type casting. In each generation, some of the family members embrace their Chinese heritage, but others choose to focus on their Irishness. 

Eventually we get back to the story of Maria and Ah Yang, the place where the story started. The novel has an interesting structure in that the further we get back in time, the less page time the characters get. This makes sense because even now if you are doing family ancestry research it is easier to find details about the most recent generations than it is earlier generations where it becomes like a puzzle to put all the clue together. I found myself thinking that this is reflected in the art that Daniel creates - a whole piece made up of the small fragments of the past. 

I did find Daniel and Wendy's story moving, but the one that affected me the most was the story of Seamus and Annie from the early 1900s, which highlighted the unfairness of the white Australia policy that was in place and was developed to only bring in migrants from "acceptable" white countries. Anyone else was forced to undertake crazy tests to prove that they could enter the country. The story of what happened to Annie and Seamus made me mad and made me cry at the same time. 

A Short History of Longans opens with a family tree, which I guess isn't all that unusual in a historical novel that focuses on one family through time. However, in this case the family tree is very important and I found myself referring to it several times as I was reading. Of course, there is also the other family tree, the longan which met its end right at the beginning of the novel, and features at various points in the historical story. 

This is my third book by Mirandi Riwoe, and I have enjoyed them all. I am making it a goal to finish reading all her books over the coming few weeks. I have several coming from different libraries around the state. Let's hope they don't all arrive at the same time. I was also surprised to learn that before she started focussing on historical fiction, this author published a mystery series under the name M J Tjia. I have requested the first one of those too. 

I am sharing this review with New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog and the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here. 

Rating 4.5/

Blog Tour: Stuck with You for Christmas by Jen Smith

 

Natasha Green knows that her Christmas is going to be different this year. Her two grown up kids have made their own plans in different parts of the world, she has had a friendship ending fallout with her best friends, she is trying not to get dragged into her ex-husband's messy life. She knows she is going to be lonely. Thank goodness for work!

Natasha will be spending the month leading up to Christmas in a small town called Wellcombe, known chiefly for being the UK's most Christmassy town. The problem is that the reviews were really bad last year, so the town has employed Natasha to revive it's reputation! Natasha is an events co-ordinator and it is her job to organise events such as the lighting of the festive lights, gingerbread house competitions, ice skating and more. It isn't always easy though. Things have always been done a certain way in Wellcombe and not everyone appreciates an outsider coming in and changing things up.

Daniel loves his hometown of Wellcombe. What he is does not love is Christmas. It is, however, good for business. Daniel works with glass, both blowing glass to make gorgeous one-of-a-kind ornaments, and restoring the stained-glass window in the church. If it was up to him, he would just stay inside during the Christmas period, but he is tasked with chaperoning three older women to all the events. They were there for him when his life changed, and now it is his role to be there for them when they need him. 

Natasha and Daniel were always bound to clash. After all, in the eyes of the town she is Christmas personified (even if she is faking it a bit) and his work equipment is spoiling her perfectly formed social media pictures. There is, however, an instant attraction between them both. Can they stop bickering and see the person underneath. They both have good reasons for feeling the way they do. Maybe if they take the time to understand, they will see the person underneath. 

I loved the community in Wellcombe from Lowenna, who has just returned to her hometown after a nasty breakup and now wants to make something of herself to the three elderly women, Kathleen, Olive and Betty who try to help Will get out of his own head and not to forget Chewbacca the dog.

I also loved the sound of the town, with all the different community events, the cold (including snow) and all the decoration. I do enjoy Christmas in my city, but it is a big city, and it is usually hot so Christmas has a different feel here than it does in this story.

This book was on the spicier side of the dial when compared to the Christmas books I usually read, and a bit swearier, but I still enjoyed it! I liked the banter, the setting and the characters and could absolutely to relate to some of the emotions that Natasha was feeling around the way that her life was changing.

I hadn't read Jen Smith before, but I am keen to read more! Now I just have to find the time!

I am sharing this review with New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog. Thanks to the publisher and Random Things Tours for the review copy. Be sure to check out other stops on the blog tour below.

Rating 4/5

About the Book

Stuck with You for Christmas

A deliciously festive enemies-of-Christmas-to-lovers romance – perfect for fans of Sarah Morgan, Heidi Swain and Milly Johnson.

Event planner Natasha needs a distraction this December...

With her grown-up children on the other side of the world, Natasha is facing Christmas alone. So when England's most famous Christmas town, Wellcombe, needs saving from a PR disaster, she packs her bags. She'll spend the season working, not wallowing – mulled wine strictly optional.

Stained glass restorer Will is counting the days until it's all over...

Since a terrible tragedy shattered his Christmas five years ago, Will wants nothing to do with twinkly lights, carol singers or festive cheer. But his biggest job this year is restoring a pair of ancient church windows in Wellcombe... at the heart of the very celebrations he's spent years avoiding.

Natasha and Will have one thing in common: they're both faking their way through the most wonderful time of year. Can gingerbread, mistletoe and a little festive magic thaw their frozen hearts? Or will it take a snowstorm to show them it's never too late for a second chance at love?

Purchase Link

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stuck-You-Christmas-enemies-lovers-ebook/dp/B0HHSHT631/

https://www.amazon.com/Stuck-You-Christmas-enemies-lovers-ebook/dp/B0HHSHT631/

About the Author

Jen lives in the Midlands with her two kids, where she dreams of living by the sea in the south of France. She is an audiobook narrator with an MA in Medieval History and loves castles and King John (possibly a smidgen too much). When not writing or narrating, Jen can be found planning the next family holiday, being taxi to the kids and giggling through her kickboxing lessons.

Social Media Links –

Instagram: @jensmithwrites

Facebook: Jen Smith Author

The French Christmas Market by Gillian Harvey

 

I am a big fan of Gillian Harvey's novels where she mostly tells the story of people making a fresh start in France. As soon as I saw there was going to be a Christmassy story I was in! 

Nicola has just moved into a house is provincial France. Unfortunately, her husband Steven still has a few months to go until her can join her permanently due to his work situation. Nicola is just trying to hold everything together until he comes for Christmas, until he announces that he can't come. When she realises that he accidentally took her passport home with him the last time he visited, it looks like she is going to be stuck in France on her own for Christmas.

It isn't like Nicola isn't trying to settle into her new community, but even her closest neighbour is rejecting her friendly gestures. And the longer she is away from her husband the more distance grows in their relationship which just increases her feelings of loneliness.

Nicola's plan for the future is to offer art lessons which is a complete change of career from her life in the UK.  When she meets her first student, Lucien, things begin to look up. Lucien wants to paint a special picture as a Christmas gift, but soon he is taking Nicola to nearby towns, especially to the nearby Christmas markets. At one of the markets, she acquires a wooden angel and is told to make a wish. Can wishes come true? Can she build her new life in France and be happy?

While we obviously got to read Nicola's story, we also got to know that of Lucien and Monsieur Remi's story. I loved the next-door neighbour's story. It was so sweet and touching.  I was glad to see that not all the most obvious choices were the ones taken here. I am being a little bit obscure because I am trying to avoid spoilers. 

I also loved that we got to hear about the differences in the way that French families celebrate Christmas. This always fascinates me. Being in Australia we normally have a hot Christmas, although we do things fairly traditionally British most of the time.

A few years ago now we were in Europe for Christmas. I went to a number of Dutch Christmas markets, and saw the decorations in chateaux such as Chambord in France, but by the time we go to France all their Christmas markets were done. Reading this book made me wish that I could visit again. A girl can dream right! I did recently hear that Shanghai has some amazing Christmas markets which might be a more achievable dream. Maybe next year!!

This was another fun read from Gillian Harvey with a Christmassy twist!

I am sharing this review with New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog. Thanks to the publisher for the review copy. 

Rating 4/5

Blog Tour: The Last Christmas by Liz Fenwick (includes UK Giveaway)

 

Nonagenerian Meredith Russell has returned to her family home in Cornwall for Christmas. She has lived in America for many years, working professionally as a professor and raising her family, but she has always kept hold of Kestle. Now, she must decide what to do with the property.

Accompanying Meredith is her granddaughter Grace, who was forced to travel by her mother given that she only works in a bar which isn't a real job. Grace is the odd one out in her family. Her mother, Marina, sees her as directionless and an underachiever. She certainly has no interest in becoming an academic like her sister, her parents and her grandparents.

What Meredith hasn't told anyone is that she knows that her time on this earth is coming to an end. She is looking forward to being reunited in the afterlife with her beloved husband Jake. This visit is a chance for Meredith to say goodbye to friends, and to visit the places that have been so important in her life and to spread her husband's ashes. The memories are strong at Kestle, including those of her marriage to Jake on Christmas Eve 66 years previously.

Meredith, Jake and her mother lived quite extraordinary lives, particularly during WWII. Meredith worked in the map rooms, and she worked closely with someone who is very well known now, but for different reasons, Ian Fleming. In addition, her mother worked behind enemy lines. Don't be mistaken, whilst Meredith does share her memories and I would love to have heard more, these WWII memories are not the true focus of this book. Rather they help us understand Meredith and Jake were when they met and fell in love.

One of the last things Meredith wants to do is to help Grace map out what her life might look like, but with Marina interfering from the other side of the Atlantic it's not going to be easy. The longer Grace spends at Kestle, the more she begins to bloom. 

Yesterday I reviewed another Christmas book where I used words like silly, fun and festive to describe it. This book is no less Christmas focussed but has a completely different feel. The words that I would use to describe this book would be emotional and poignant

I love that this book references quite a few instantly recognisable things. For example, the property has Frenchman's Creek as one of its boundary, which you may recognise as the name of one of Daphne du Maurier.

I am sharing this review with New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog. Thanks to the publisher and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy. Be sure to check out other stops on the blog tour below, and if you are in the UK, enter into the giveaway.

Rating 4/5

The Last Christmas

When a final goodbye in Cornwall is only the beginning…

Meredith Tremayne Russell has spent her life mapping the world, first in intelligence during WWII, and later as a professor. But at ninety-eight with time running out, she faces a journey she cannot chart, a return to her old Cornish home to sell it and to scatter her beloved husband’s ashes.

With her is her twenty-five-year-old granddaughter, Grace, a dyslexic who believes she is a failure in a family of academics. For Grace the trip is a welcome escape from her mother’s demands. But when she unlocks her great-grandmother’s abandoned art studio, she finds a legacy of a passionate artist and a French resistance fighter.

As Meredith relives the frozen December of her 1946 wedding, she understands her final mission isn't to say goodbye to her old home, but to draw one last map—showing Grace how to navigate a life of her own making.

Purchase Links

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0HH9QRQYL (ebook)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HH9QRQYL (Amazon US)

https://www.lizfenwick.com/store-1/p/the-last-christmas (paperback)

About the author

Liz Fenwick, dubbed ‘the queen of the Cornish contemporary novel’ by The Guardian, is an award-winning author of emotional, immersive, feel-good fiction. Her books are filled with history, mystery and love. She loves stories that pull her into their world like they did when she was young so that’s what she writes. When she’s not writing, she’s procrastinating on Instagram, plot walking, reading and painting. She lives in Cornwall with her husband and two mad cats.

Social Media Links – 

@liz_fenwick (insta & twitter & threads) 

@lizfenwickauthor (TikTok)

Giveaway to Win 3 x Paperback copies of The Last Christmas (Open to UK Only)

*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome. Please enter using the Gleam box below. The winner will be selected at random via Gleam from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

Win 3 x Paperback copies of The Last Christmas (Open to UK Only)

Blog Tour: The Christmas Rift by K L Crear

 

Everyone knows that it is expensive to live in London, even in flats that are in less than trendy areas and that might not be the most modern space. Given that the two women who live at 42 Miller Avenue call their flat Mildew Avenue, it's clear from early on that this is not exactly des res. However, there are two other inhabitants in the flat. First, there is Nigel the debonair mouse, and Winston the spider.

For Daisy and Kate, Mildew Avenue is home. They can barely make ends meet, but they have each other. It is close to Christmas and Daisy is busy trying to wrap presents using pre used sticky tape and Kate is planning her next acquisition for her collection of crystal fairies.

Their equilibrium is shattered when their effusive landlady excitedly announces that she has found a new tenant named Maxi to help share the rent costs.  However, it turns out that Maxi is a wannabe male model and to be honest, a bit of a tosser. He tells the girls that he is vegan but then eats their non vegan treats, leaving them to accuse each other. 

When Daisy first meets Maxi, she sees a blissful future complete with wedding bells. For Kate, there is an equally instant reaction, although hers is more sexual in natures. 

Soon, Nigel (the mouse) is despairing as the girls turn against each other, Maxi is revelling in being the centre of attention. Something needs to be done!

If I was challenged to review this book in only three words, then I would choose silly, fun and festive. Admittedly, silly might not always be a good thing, but I read this book straight after quite a heavy read and so it was the perfect palate cleanser. It was a quick read, and I literally laughed out loud at several scenes. It helps to have an appreciation for British humour!

There are several interesting choices that the author has made in this book. The most obvious is the inclusion of multiple points of views telling the reader about each event from their different perspectives, and yes, that includes Nigel. 

This was a really pleasant surprise. Fun and festive. Just don't expect anything too serious!

I am sharing this review with New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog. Thanks to the publisher and Random Things Tours for the review copy. Be sure to check out other stops on the blog tour below.

Rating 3.5/5

About the book

The Christmas Rift

Christmas is coming... and so is the biggest rift this tiny flat has ever seen.

When Daisy and Kate's glamorous new housemate is announced, they picture another girl.

Instead, they get Maxi.

A ridiculously handsome male model with an ego the size of Lapland, an appetite that empties the fridge daily and a nasty habit of encouraging two best friends to compete for his attention.

Before long, Daisy's mentally picking out wedding dresses, Kate's having far less wholesome thoughts and the flat has descended into festive warfare.

Watching every drama unfold from the safety of the skirting board is Nigel, the house's delightfully eccentric resident mouse. Sporting an abandoned contact lens as a monocle and never knowingly short of an opinion, he's firmly convinced humans are the daftest creatures ever created.

He's probably right.

A laugh-out-loud Christmas comedy about friendship, festive disasters and why some housemates really should come with a warning label.

Purchase Links

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0HF54P5FM

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HF54P5FM

About the author

Karen (K.L. Crear) is an author, over-sharer, and walking cautionary tale. Think: a sweary teenager trapped in the body of a menopausal woman who can’t sneeze without risking a wardrobe malfunction. You’re welcome.

Once upon a time, she worked in banking, the Civil Service, and property management, or as she likes to call it, The Beige Trilogy. She spent decades being respectable (ish), responsible (occasionally), and quietly losing the will to live. Then one day she found herself broke, baffled, and built entirely out of biscuit crumbs and unresolved trauma. So she did what any sensible woman would do, she wrote it all down and flogged it in paperback.

Karen has battled cancer twice, and her coping strategy was to laugh at wildly inappropriate moments and shout “F*ck off!” at inspirational quotes. Spoiler: it worked. Her sense of humour is deeply questionable, but it’s kept her just about sane through grief, illness, love, lies, and the time she gave herself food poisoning with a dodgy prawn ring from Iceland.

After years of procrastination (and one too many vinos), she finally swapped Pinot for a pen. She now writes jaw-dropping memoirs and hilarious women’s fiction about women who’ve had enough, snapped slightly, and are thriving in spite of it all, usually with a glass in hand, some top mates, and a solid alibi.

Her hobbies include eating anything wrapped in pastry, shouting at the Real Housewives (“She’s definitely had something done - she’s melting!”), and threatening to adopt an axolotl because they look so absurdly cheerful. She once turned down hugging a sloth in Mexico, it dangles upside down, pees on itself, and honestly felt like a warning from the future.

Karen lives in a sleepy Northern town with her long-suffering husband (he’s partially deaf, which helps) and their cat Pickle, who looks permanently disgusted with their life choices and the ongoing Dreamies rationing.

A portion of every book sale goes to Women’s Aid, Great Ormond Street, the Epilepsy Society, and Macmillan. because she knows what it’s like to need help. The world’s a shitshow, but we can all make a little difference in our own way.



Social Media Links –

https://www.klcrear.com

https://www.facebook.com/klcrearauthor

https://www.instagram.com/klcrear_author

https://www.amazon.com/author/klcrear

Weekend Cooking: The Slow Cooker Supper Club by Sue Heath

 

Erin can't believe that she has made such a major oversight. As a seasoned traveller, she should know the expiry date of her passport and so it is embarrassing when she can't board the plane on her latest trip. Now she needs to apply for a new passport, so she needs somewhere to stay for as long as that will take.

When her aunt lines up a housesitting gig with her friend Marie, who is off on a four-month cruise, Erin says yes, knowing full well (and disclosing) that she probably won't stay for the whole time. Once she has her passport, she will be off again. Marie has only a couple of requests. Erin will need to care for her dog, Bella, and keep an eye on her section of the community allotment. Oh, and she needs to continue to host the Thursday Night Slow Cooker Supper Club.

Not long before Marie's husband passed away, he bought her a slow cooker. It sat in the cupboard for a while but one day Marie decided she would use it and invite her neighbours in the Station Cottages to join her, and the Thursday Night Slow Cooker Supper Club was born. 

The club became a weekly highlight for all the neighbours. There is Eva, the elderly but still feisty and nosy neighbour. There are Phil (as in Philomena) and Johh who both have suffered losses and then newcomer Danny, who is recovering from a breakup and trying to decide what direction he wants to take in his career. Together they forge friendships and a sense of community that sees them working together

When Marie goes on her cruise, they are going to miss her, but they are also keen to get to know Erin. Erin doesn't necessarily want them to get to know her. She has been moving from one place to another for years and so doesn't really form friendships, but it doesn't take long before she feels part of the little community. The longer she stays, the more settled she feels.

She is a bit daunted by the supper club as she isn't much of a cook, but with the direction of the local butcher, she is soon able to rustle up a dish and bring some of her own experiences to the table. 

However, there are reasons why Erin has made some of the decisions she has made, and staying in one place and growing friendships with her neighbours has her reexamining her life and maybe thinking about reaching out to her family. The one person she doesn't need to reexamine her relationship with is her ex, Tim. Will Tim get in the way of her growing friendship with Danny?

As you would expect with a book set in a supper club, there are plenty of mentions of food ranging from Poulet Breton to ox tail stew, pulled pork and bread and butter pudding I did think that food would be more central to the story, and would love to have seen a recipe or two at the end of the book 

This is my third book by Sue Heath. I absolutely adored The Secret Ingredient and loved The Storytellers. This one, I liked a lot, but if I had to rank them, then this would be the third on the list. Interestingly, Sue Heath also writes romances under the name Zara Stoneley

What each of the books by Sue Heath has in common is the coming together of a group of people to form a found family, but she does it in a way that feels quite organic and not contrived at all! Whenever I finish one of her books I am already looking forward to the next one, and this time is no exception!

We love our pressure cooker/slow cooker combo appliance. Maybe this week we will pull it out of the cupboard and use it. It has been a while. 

I am sharing this review with Foodies Read hosted at Based on a True Story and with the New Release Challenge hosed at The Chocolate Lady's Book Blog

Rating 4/5

Weekly meals

Saturday -  Nothing
Sunday - Out for dinner
Monday - Pasta Alfredo
Tuesday - Chicken Stir fry and rice
Wednesday - Italian Meatballs
Thursday - Steak, egg and chips
Friday - Takeaway

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 in the comments. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Blog Tour: The Twenty Dates by Ko Porteous

 

When Claire's husband of 19 years gives her a set of smart scales for their 19th wedding anniversary she is livid. And then when he decides to use the table that she cleared for their special dinner to fix the door she has been nagging about for months, she hits the roof! Meanwhile Mark is absolutely stumped. She had been saying she wanted the door fixed and a set of smart scales, so he just doesn't get why she is upset 

When they first got together, Claire and Mark were madly in love. Now, they are two people who care for each other and live in the same house but that's about it and Claire has had enough, especially on top of the fact that she is feeling the effects of menopause, she's been made redundant and their only son, Aidan, has left home.

Mark is shocked by Claire's declaration. He still loves her and doesn't quite understand why she is so upset. So, he suggests that he goes to live at his sister's while he has a big work project, but that they go on a number of dates over the coming months to see if they can revive their flagging marriage. Claire agrees, although she doesn't have much hope. 

The dates range from very personal to challenging in many ways. In the meantime, both of them need to work on themselves. 

I knew this book was going to work for me right from the first chapter. After the smart scales debacle, Claire is in the kitchen mashing the potatoes furiously and there's a line that says "There's nothing like marital strife to help achieve a perfect mashed potato." Meanwhile, Mark is in the other room and notes "Claire takes ages over the mash, getting it just right. Frankly, he'd be happy with the lumps." It made me laugh and perfectly illustrates how different their point of views are.

These are two people who either never really knew or have forgotten how to communicate. They both have things that they do that impact the other person. It's not just Mark who needs to look at what he says and does.  Hopefully over the course of the dates, they can reconnect and practice not taking each other for granted, or maybe it really is the end. 

I loved Claire's circle of friends who somehow managed to find out what is going on and offer her support in many ways. I also liked that both of them had some childhood issues that they needed to deal with to help them with their current circumstances. It wasn't a one-sided thing.

This is Ko Porteous' second book but I haven't read the first one...yet! But I will because I enjoyed this one very much. Sometimes it can be a bit of a risk trying a new author. In this case it paid off.

Claire and Mark have twenty dates to find their way back to each other. It isn't smooth sailing, but they each grow and experience new things, both together and apart.

I am sharing this review with New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog. Thanks to the publisher and Random Things Tours for the review copy. Be sure to check out other stops on the blog tour below.

Rating 4/5

About the Book

The Twenty Dates

The kids have left, assuming love endures. But can yours?

Book #2 in The Empty Nesters Series

Claire’s marriage is in (total!) crisis. Her husband, Mark, is distracted, presumptuous, and utterly clueless - smart scales for their 19th wedding anniversary? Really? Perhaps she'd be better off alone. At least there'd be less laundry.

When Claire suggests separating, Mark panics. He asks for one last chance: twenty dates, one for each year of their marriage, to prove they're better off together than apart.

What follows is a series of adventures Claire never saw coming - some mortifying, some exhilarating, and some that make her question everything she thought she knew. About Mark. About marriage. And about the woman she's quietly become while she wasn't paying attention.

As the dates tick down, Claire must decide: is the spark still there - or has their marriage simply run its course?

Purchase Links

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Twenty-Dates-Empty-Nesters-Book-ebook/dp/B0H5G54FXK/

https://www.amazon.com/Twenty-Dates-Empty-Nesters-Book-ebook/dp/B0H5G54FXK/

About the Author

Ko Porteous lived in a tiny fishing village in the north of Scotland before moving to Edinburgh aged 10.  

Ko loves meeting people with interesting stories to tell and is constantly on the lookout for knotty story themes, particularly involving women navigating the messiness of mid-life. She has worked as a Research Chemist, Assistant Chef, Teacher and School Leader.  

As well as writing, Ko works as a Business Manager and a Funeral Celebrant.  

In her free time Ko loves to run, meditate and travel; preferably all on the same day.   

Ko has been married for 25 years, has 2 children of her own and is now navigating her own empty nest.  

The Twenty Dates is Ko’s second novel and the second book in ‘The Empty Nesters’ series.  

Social Media Links –

Instagram: @koporteousauthor

Facebook: Ko Porteous Author

Mini reviews - Three Japanese novels

This week I am bringing you somewhat mini reviews of three recent Japanese reads. I am not that good at being mini. Half the time they would only need one more paragraph to make them a normal review!

Before I Knew I Loved You by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (translated by Geoffrey Trousselot)

This is the sixth book in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series and it is very similar is structure and tone. There are four individual stories where we meet people who want to go either forward or back in time to get closure. 

In the first story, a young woman hopes to meet up with the stepmother who she treated badly to say she's sorry. Then we meet a teenager who hopes to meet the girl that she liked. The last time he saw her he didn't say what was in his heart and now it is too late. In the third story, a woman has to decide whether to say yes to her partner, even knowing what she knows and finally, a young man wants to go back in time to see his dead father one last time. Each of these stories is moving and meaningful in it's own way. 

One of the things about this series is that rules about the time travel do get repeated a lot. Despite that, every now and again it feels like the rules change ever so slightly. For example, it was a couple of books into the series before it said that people could go forward in time as well as backward. There was an aspect of the first story in this book which felt like the rules got a little bent. We will see if anyone else uses this particular method going forward. 

Whilst this book is set in a cafe, there isn't that much food in them usually. People who visit the cafe can ask for whatever they like to eat and Nagare, the chef and owner, will make it for them if he has the ingredient. I did, however, enjoy the foodie aspect of the last story where the young man remembers the pasta dish that his dad had prepared for them. 

So far I have listened to this entire series on audio narrated by Kevin Shen. I am not sure that I would even be able to read one of these books now without hearing his voice in my head, particularly when someone enters the cafe and he does the klang-dong sound of the doorbell.

The more I read this series, the more I find myself pondering the properties of hot water in Japan. The whole premise is that you only have maybe 10 minutes in the past, as you have to finish your coffee before it gets cold. However, when I make myself a tea, it takes at least 45 minutes before the tea gets completely cold. Maybe it is our definition on what temperature cold is that varies!

I did see something the other day that said that the author has recently finished the seventh book in the series. I will, of course, be reading it! Or rather, listening to it!

Rating 4/5

The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop by Takuya Asakura (translated by Yuka Maeno)

If you read a particular book at a particular time of year (specifically during cherry blossom season) you may suddenly find yourself visiting the Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop which is run by a young woman named Sakura and her cat Kabako. 

This book shares a similar structure and feel to many of these popular Japanese books, including the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series. There is a hard to find setting, a bit of magic realism and four stories of people who need to find peace regarding some particular aspect of their life. 

We meet a woman whose mother has recently passed away, leaving thing unresolved. In another story, there is a man with dementia who is trying something important and then two sisters whose lives are going in different directions. Of these, I thought the story about the man with dementia was very moving. 

I didn't mind this one until the last chapter when it all got a bit weird which is a real shame because this is where we got to learn how Sakura ended up being in the store, so it would have been great to have been able to connect to this. I am assuming

This is a case where the absolutely gorgeous cover lured me in, but the book itself wasn't quite as good as I would have hoped it would be. I did love all the discussions about the four special books that were the triggers to bring the different characters into the store! Don't get me wrong. It was still a decent read, just not great.

This book counts for the Bookish Books challenge.

Rating 3/5

Matcha on Monday by Michiko Aoyama (translated by E Madison Shimoda)

On the cover this is advertised as "By the best selling author of What You Are Looking For is in the Library. The thing is that book is my least favourite of the four books I have read by this author so far.

Matcha on Monday is the companion book to Hot Chocolate on Thursdays which I read earlier this year. Whilst these two books share the common trait of featuring individual by connected stories, this time there are 12 stories (one for each month of the year). Some of the stories are set in or near the Marble Cafe in Tokyo, but others are set in Kyoto. This time there is no magical element, other than the power of unknown connections, and I don't think there is even a cat, although I could be wrong!

The Marble Cafe is normally closed on a Monday but every now and again the mysterious owner who is known only as The Maestro holds special events. In the first of the stories, a young woman visits the cafe during an event which is featuring matcha teas. In the next story, a man tries to visit the cafe after a fight with his wife but it is closed. Instead, he visits a nearby store. Then we learn more about the store owner and so the connected stories continue. Through the stories we learn lots about matcha, about several important Japanese traditions and more.

These couple of paragraphs give an example of how each of the stories is connected, and I love this whole idea!

"Right, we have no clue who they are, but they definitely existed. If you trace things back, the number of linked hands multiplies exponentially. If even one of those hands had let go, we wouldn't have made it here. Every encounter is the result of a long line of connections between people whose faces we'll never know."

Moved, I look at the Maestro.

He cradles his coffee cup with both hands and adds, "The most wonderful thing about this is that the far-off people who once held hands have no idea that they might be making someone somewhere down the line happy. That's what's great: unbeknownst to you, simply working on your life can impact the life of complete strangers."

I certainly found myself thinking about some of the things that happened in my life and where those magical hands, whether known or unknown, have helped me to get to where I am in my life right now. For example, my husband moved to Australia 8 years before we met. I'd like to thank whoever the first person was who put that idea in his head!

I enjoyed both of the books in the Marble Cafe series. And I will read whatever book is translated into English from Michiko Aoyama.

Rating 4.5/5

All of these books count for the Books in Translation challenge hosted at The Introverted Reader. Before I Knew I Loved You and Matcha on Monday count for Foodies Read hosted at Based on a True Story and Weekend Cooking which I host. The first two books count for the Speccy Fic challenge, hosted at Book'd Out and Before I Knew I Loved You counts for the New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews.

Blog Tour: The Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhon

 

Ariel Lawhon is a relatively new author for me. I have only previously read one of her books. However, as soon as I saw that this book was about 16th century pirate queen Gráinne (or the English version of her name Grace) O'Malley. Maybe 20 years ago, there were quite a few books that came out featuring Grace as the main character, but it has been a while. And in the hands of Ariel Lawhon, I had high hopes. Luckily I was not disappointed! Far from it!

Gráinne O'Malley is such an interesting character from history. She defied norms from a very young age when it became clear that she had an affinity with the sea. Her father was a chieftain and he hoped that her half brother Donal would be the one to take over his fleet but unfortunately Donal was prone to sea sickness, so that was never going to work! It wasn't just that she loved it, she also has the Sense - the ability to hear and feel major storms coming. She also had the ability to attract the loyalty of the men who swear to sail her ships and protect her, no matter what.

This book has a really interesting structure. The story is told through three different timelines which are  then told alternatively. The first is the Maiden where we learn about Gráinne's childhood. In Mother we see Gráinne as she navigates through a violent marriage, raising children, finding love and so much more. The final strand of the story is that of the Matriach as she tries to navigate the demands of the English queen, Elizabeth. Elizabeth demands fealty and then meddles in the Irish laws for her own purposes. Her representatives also want far more than the Irish want to give.

There is no doubt that this structure was a little tricky at first, and I have heard that there are suggestions that you could read each section, for example read all The Maiden chapters, then read all the Mother chapters and finally all The Matriach sections so that you actually read the story chronologically. However, once you got used to it and remember to check which viewpoint the next chapter was, then I did not get confused.

Gráinne's life is complex, suffering great losses throughout her life, but surrounding herself with family and men who will do her bidding. She loves intensely, both her country, people and her loves, she is stubborn and at times intractable but she is always formidable, and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to learn about this amazing historical figure through the pages of this exceptional book!

This is a big book at around 580 pages, but I was able to read it very quickly as I was so engrossed in the story! I couldn't wait to get back to the story!

I am not sure I have been able to convey how much I enjoyed this book!

I am sharing this review with New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog and the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here. Thanks to the publisher and Random Things Tours for the review copy. Be sure to check out other stops on the blog tour below.

Rating 5/5

About the book

'A writer to watch’ J.T. Ellison, author of A writer to watch’ J.T. Ellison, author of What Lies Behind

THE NEW HISTORICAL THRILLER FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE FROZEN RIVER, THE FROZEN RIVER, BASED ON A TRUE STORY BASED ON A TRUE STORY 

Grace O'Malley was born to be at sea. Raised alongside her brother by their father, chief of the name of clan O'Malley, Grace learns early that her dreams of the open water are not compatible with the life she's expected to lead as the daughter of a noble family. And when her father marries her to the wrong man, a neighbouring chief named Donhal, Grace's world shifts for the worse. 

Undaunted, Grace raises a family without abandoning her passion, aiding her hot-tempered husband in his campaigns against rival tribes. Eventually ousted from her husband's land in the wake of his death, Grace returns to her childhood home and begins her career as a pirate in earnest, claiming new territories and finding deeper love, only to see her livelihood threatened by English incursions into Ireland, and her family endangered in an attempt to check her power. 

Tenderly observed and fiercely written, Ariel Lawhon's gripping latest novel channels the natural beauty of sixteenth-century Ireland alongside the brutality of the period as seen through the eyes of an unforgettable heroine and defender of her people, who truly earned the title ʻthe Pirate Queen of Ireland.’ 

A thrilling historical adventure inspired by the life of Grace O'Malley, an infamous Irish sea captain and folk heroine who risked everything to infamous Irish sea captain and folk heroine who risked everything to protect her people against the powerful Elizabethan regime protect her people against the powerful Elizabethan regime 

PRAISE FOR ARIEL LAWHON PRAISE FOR ARIEL LAWHON 

One of our most interesting authors of historical fiction' People 

'Ariel Lawhon is a masterful storyteller'  Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times bestselling author of bestselling author of Becoming Mrs. Lewis 

'Her skill with characterisation is enviable' 5 Star Reader Review 

'An extremely talented author' 5 Star Reader Review

About the Author

ARIEL LAWHON is a critically acclaimed, New York Times bestselling author of historical fiction. Her books have been translated into numerous languages. She lives in the rolling hills outside Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband and four sons

Blog Tour: Winter Magic at Hollybrae Castle by Jaimie Admans

 

It may only be September but my Christmas reading for this year is started, and to be honest, this book will set the bar high for other Christmas reads this year. 

Oliver Bracewell is in the running for a big promotion at work, and in order to woo his bosses he has promised them a traditional family Christmas at his Scottish castle, which he will host alongside his wife and two children. Never mind that he hates his job and, if he gets it, he will need to move to London. He needs the pay rise to help maintain the castle. Otherwise, he might have to sell the castle which is his last real link to his parents. Only problem is....he doesn't have a wife or two children.

Enter Lula Haines who suddenly finds herself jobless after the Christmas window display at the big store she works for goes disastrously wrong (poor Paddington Bear). When she sees a job ad for an experienced decorator to make a Scottish castle shine, she thinks why not. After a very strange interview, she is on her way to the Mull of Kintyre for a few weeks. During the interview she has also somehow agreed to pretend to be her boss's wife for the event. Her sister, who Lula lives with, is rightfully concerned, but what could go wrong.

Once at the picture book perfect castle, Lula has free reign to decorate as much as she wants. What she really wants though is to know more about Oliver. Why has he not celebrated Christmas at the castle in years? Why does he need a fake wife? Where is he going to get fake kids from and how will they be able to make it look like they are a real family?

I literally laughed out loud at the first line of this book, and then started wondering why I haven't read this author before! And that set the scene for a wonderful romantic, Christmas read. There were so many funny scenes. I laughed out loud when Lu was navigating a conversation with the boss's wives about all the various reasons when they had never met her (fictional Lu had many, many instances of illness and accidents) but there were also many heartfelt scenes and lots of emotion. 

I love Lula and Oliver together. They both know that this arrangement is for a short time only, but everything just feels right between them. I also love the Christmas that they created from slinky races down the stairs, to searching for the perfect trees and so much more. And there were some lovely secondary characters as well, people who all cared for Oliver and Lula just want to see them happy both as individuals, but also together if they can realise that this fake marriage can be more.

Obviously, I loved this book, and I will definitely be reading more from Jaimie Admans. It was a great start to my Christmas reading season!

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

Rating 4.5/5

Winter Magic at Hollybrae Castle

A Scottish castle, a fake marriage… and one very real Christmas romance?

After a window display goes disastrously viral – thanks to a malfunctioning animatronic Santa and an unfortunate encounter with Paddington Bear – Lula Haines finds herself without a job just weeks before Christmas. So she jumps at the chance to decorate Hollybrae Castle in Scotland for the holidays.

There’s just one complication: her handsome new boss, Oliver Bracewell, needs a fake wife for the festive season. To secure a promotion that could save his family’s castle, Ollie has been pretending to be a married father-of-two to impress the family-focused firm where he works. Now his bosses are coming to stay at Hollybrae over Christmas… expecting to meet his non-existent wife and children.

At first, playing along is easy as Lula is swept up in the magic of turning Hollybrae into the perfect festive escape with Ollie. But as Christmas draws nearer and she and Ollie grow closer, Lula begins to wonder if Hollybrae could become more than a temporary escape… and if the man she’s only pretending to love might actually be the one she’s been waiting for all along.

With heaps of tartan, tinsel and Christmas magic, this uplifting romance is perfect for fans of Trisha Ashley, Heidi Swain, Cressida McLaughlin, Ellie Henderson or Jessica Redland!

Purchase Links

Amazon UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0GM2WTCSZ/

Amazon US https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GM2WTCSZ/

About the author 

Jaimie Admans is the bestselling author of several romantic comedies – including The Little Christmas Shop on Nutcracker Lane and The Post Box at the North Pole. Her series for Boldwood, The Ever After Street Series, is based on the magical world of fairytales.

 

Social Media Links –

Facebook: @JaimieAdmansBooks

Twitter: @be_the_spark

Instagram: @jaimieadmans1

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

 

Blog Tour: The Way We Are Now by Julie Houston

 

When Anna Piasecki's son comes home and tells him about the girl he is now seeing, she is stopped in her tracks. The girl is the daughter of her one true love and suddenly she and Theo Mandeville are once again in each other's orbit.

The book flashes back to when Anna and her friend Fliss first met the gorgeous and aristocratic Theo when they were all students at university in Leeds. Anna is studying politics at uni, and she really wants to get a job in London but as the daughter of a miner from a small town in Yorkshire, she doesn't really have the necessary contacts to make that happen. But this is a tumultuous time in British history with the miner's strikes of the early 1980's ramping up against the government of Margaret Thatcher. Anna finds herself working in the mining union office and doing what she can to support the strikers.

By contrast, Theo Mandeville's future is laid out in front of him. He will inherit the family estate but his true passion is squash and he dreams of competing professionally. His family are firmly part of the aristocracy and therefore have very different views on the world than Anna's working class family. Despite a tragedy that has lasting implications for Anna and very different philosophies, she is drawn to Theo and he to her, and soon they are inseparable. 

Our star-crossed lovers are torn apart following an incident where his family blames Anna for everything, and they go their separate ways, and on to live their lives. Anna becomes a lawyer fighting for women's rights and eventually finds herself in politics whilst Theo goes on to live the life expected. However, every now and again Anna and Theo come into contact with each other, and all those feelings are stirred up again

The meat of this story is in the section that is set in the 1980s and that part was definitely my favourite. I have to give real kudos to the author for bringing a setting that you just don't normally see in fiction. She really captured the social issues of the day, with plenty of cultural and fashion touchpoints along the way too! She captures the turmoil of the strikes, the politics, the fear around the AIDS, the role of women in the workplace and so much more. A couple of the later sections feel a bit dramatic but well and truly worth it.

I guess part of the reason why I connected so well with the story as I spent 4 years living in Sheffield in South Yorkshire in the late 1990s. Leeds is the next major city up the motorway so I went there lots of times.

I hadn't read Julie Houston before. If this is representative of her books I am definitely going to be reading more!

I was also reminded of a movie called Love and Pride which is set in Wales during the miner's strikes and talks about the gay community in London raising money for the miners and them supporting teh community in the face of the epidemic, and vice versa. It must be time to rewatch it!

If you are looking for a really good read with a very unusual setting, then this is the book for you! I am so glad I took a chance on a new author!

I am sharing this review with New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog, British Isles Friday hosted at Joy's Book Blog and the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here. Thanks to the publisher, Netgally and Rachel's Random Resource for the review copy. Be sure to check out other stops on the blog tour below.

Rating 4.5/5

About the book

The Way We Are Now

BRAND NEW from bestselling author Julie Houston comes a powerful story of first love, long-hidden secrets and second chances. Perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes, Marian Keyes, David Nichols and Ruth Jones.

First love, long-hidden secrets and second chances.

Anna Piasecki thought she had left her university heartbreak behind. After spending decades building a successful life, she arrives at sixty with everything as she wants it – a glittering career, a devoted partner and brightest star of all, her brilliant son Noah, the apple of her eye.

Theo Mandeville is trapped. Bound by aristocratic duty to his sprawling Yorkshire estate, he has spent decades living the life that was expected of him while regretting the star-crossed romance he walked away from.

When their children meet at college, Anna and Theo suddenly find their carefully constructed lives colliding. With a devastating forty-year-old secret hanging over them, can their families survive the truth and do they dare to trust that fate has other plans for them?

Spanning decades, The Way We Are Now is a sweeping, heartwarming and life-affirming tale of first love, friendship and second chances perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes, Marian Keyes, David Nichols and Ruth Jones.

Purchase Link - Mybook.to/TheWayWeAreNow

About the author

Julie Houston is the author of 17 best-selling Women’s contemporary/Romantic Comedy novels. Represented by Anne Williams at KHLA Literary Agency, she was previously published by Aria/Head of Zeus but now writes for Boldwood. She has had UK top 100 selling books and Looking for Lucy hit the number 1 spot in Australia. Sing me a Secret was shortlisted for, and won, the Popular Romantic Fiction Award in 2021.

Julie is Yorkshire born and bred and lives in Huddersfield where her novels are set. After University, where she studied Education and English Literature, she taught for many years as a junior schoolteacher. After teaching for a few years, she decided to go to New Zealand to work and taught in Auckland for a year before coming back to this country. She now teaches when the phone rings to cover absent colleagues and still loves the buzz of teaching junior-aged children.

Julie is married with a son and daughter, both in their twenties and now living in London. She has been a magistrate on the West Yorkshire bench for the last twenty-four years.

Social Media Links 

Instagram -juliehoustonauthor

Twitter/x @juliehouston2

Facebook - JulieHoustonAuthor

Blog Tour: The Secret Diary of Rome by M A McLaughlin

 

What makes you decide to try a new author? Sometimes it will be the blurb, sometimes it might be the cover and other times it might be the title. In the case of this book, it was all three!

Since her mother died, book restorer Emilia Rinaldi has been a bit lost, but she is now getting herself back together, thanks in part to her engagement to dashing Englishman Oliver after a whirlwind romance. While cleaning out her mother's house, she finds an antique music box which includes a page from a diary and an old photo. When she gets a phone call from Rome telling her that she is the sole recipient of her grandmother's estate, which includes a villa, she knows that she must go to Rome immediately, much to her fiancé's annoyance.

Emilia's mother and grandmother had had a falling out years before, and so Emilia never met her. Once in Rome, she is given a diary (the same one that the torn-out page had come from). It turns out that the diary was by Lizzy Siddal, wife and muse to Dante Gabriel Rossetti. In her own right, Lizzy was a model and an artist herself, but her relationship with Rossetti and his family was volatile, so she was often in low spirits.

As we progress through the story, Emilia begins to understand her mother's story and what drove her to move to America, and then as she does some restoration of the diary, she learns about Lizzy's life, her love with Rossetti, her concerns about dubious characters who take advantage and more. She also finds out about the other parts of her inheritance which include some paintings, as well as a priceless collection of antique books.

I do love a book about art history, and I have to admit I didn't really know much about Rossetti's art. I had heard both his and Lizzie's names before but I learnt a lot through this book, and have since found myself going down the rabbit hole of pre-Raphaelite art.

The majority of the book is set in 1960s Rome but there were quite a few references to events that happened during the WWII, given that it was only 15 years previous. Via the diary, we are taken back to the 1860s where we watched Lizzy in her triumphs but also in her despairs

Now I am keen to pick up the author's previous book which also has a connection to the famous Rossetti family.

I am sharing this review with New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog, the Bookish Books challenge hosted at Bloggin'Bout Books and the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here. Thanks to the publisher and Zooloo's Book Tours for the review copy. Be sure to check out other stops on the blog tour below.

Rating 4/5

About the book

A hidden diary. A story thatʼs waited a hundred years to be told . . . 

1960, New York. 

Emilia Rinaldi restores broken books for a living. She knows how to bring lost stories back to life. 

The one story she cannot repair is her own. 

Then an unexpected gift from her late mother arrives — an antique music box containing a faded photograph and a torn page from the diary of Lizzie Siddal, the tragic Pre-Raphaelite muse and wife of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. 

Emilia follows the clues to Rome. To an abandoned villa left by a grandmother she never knew. To a collection of rare and beautiful books, hidden in a church crypt through the war . . . 

And a secret buried for generations. 

As Emilia pieces together her own past, Lizzieʼs diary reveals another story. Two Rossetti paintings. One genuine. One a flawless forgery. 

Separated by a century, the two mysteries are bound together. 

And when Emilia finally discovers the truth, she must decide whether some stories are meant to be preserved . . . or buried forever.

Purchase link

Goodreads

About the author

Marty Ambrose-McLaughlin is an award-winning, multi-published author of four historical mysteries set mostly in Italy, drawing on her background in nineteenth-century literature. Marty completed her M.Phil. at the University of York, England) and teaches creative writing at Florida Southwestern State College. She has also given numerous workshops in the U.S. and abroad on all aspects of creating/publishing a novel; her new novel, The Secret Diary of Rome will be published by Joffe Books in 2026.

Socials

 Instagram

 Facebook

Website