Feature | Goodbye April ~ Hello May

Goodness, these weeks are flying by! I can't believe I'm on my second Goodbye ~

Hello post already.

To recap, this is wrap up post of the month just gone and a look at what I have coming up in the next month.

April has been a busy month personally, but book and blog wise I posted six reviews along with various My Book Corner features and a whole bunch of cover reveals and guest posts for blog tours.

Here are the books I've reviewed, please click on the images to read.

March saw Lozza's Book Corner take part in six blog tours covering a mixture of reviews, guest posts and Q&A's. I would also again like to thank Tracey Sinclair, Helena Sheffield, Laurie Ellingham, Victoria Walters and Isabelle Broom for taking part in the My Book Corner feature.

This feature has really taken off in the last month, as I put a pinned tweet up and I'm now scheduled up until the beginning of August with a host of bloggers and authors taking part!

It's been a good month for receiving books too. 

Thanks to some amazing publishers my TBR is never ending and the new titles added are:

eBooks

The Summer We Danced -Fiona Harper

An Autumn Affair & A Summer of Secrets - Both by Alice Ross

The Summer Flings Travel Club - Aimee Duffy

Something Old, Something New - Darcie Boleyn

Summer at the Cornish Cafe - Phillipa Ashley

The Secret of Orchard Cottage - Alex Brown

Cupcakes and Confetti - Jane Linfoot

Paperbacks

The Assistants - Camille Perri

Martini Henry - Sara Crow

Mad Girl -Bryony Gordon

And finally, March saw the blog have a little makeover. 

I'm one of these that are never happy until it's just right and can now say that I love the new header, ratings image and signature to sign my post's off with. I now just need to decide whether to keep the floral background or revert to one that's not so busy - please let me know your thoughts as you are the ones that read the blog after all!

Moving on to the month ahead then..

As a general rule, I love May. I love seeing the blossom on the blossom on the trees and the feeling that the weather is starting to get warmer, but it's also a bitter sweet month for me too.

It's my birthday month and my late Nan's birthday is the day after mine. We always used to have lunch together and then enjoy tea and cake - she was the only other person I knew that put the milk in first and had her tea milky so it was out treat to have together without the rest of the family passing comment!

I'm not sure what I am doing for my actual birthday yet (other than working...boo!) but I am hoping to go away the weekend after to spend some time with my nieces and nephew.

I've kept the diary fairly empty for this month. I'm on a few blog tours and have a couple of cover reveals planned but I'm concentrating on attacking the TBR throughout May.

As well as the books mentioned in the above TBR list, the following three are right at the top!

The One We Fell In Love With - Paige Toon

Always With Love - Giovanna Fletcher

Lovers and Liars - Nigel May

Wishing you all a fabulous month of reading!

Review | The Chic Boutique on Baker St. ~ Rachel Dove

Genre: romantic fiction

Release Date: 21st April 2016

Publisher:  Mills & Boon

The perfect escape to the country…

Recently single and tired of the London rat race Amanda is determined to make her dreams of setting up an idyllic countryside boutique come true, and the picturesque village of Westfield is the perfect place to

make a fresh start.

Local vet Ben is the golden boy of Westfield, especially to resident gossip Agatha Mayweather, who is determined to help Ben get his life back together after his wife left.

When a chance encounter outside the ‘chic boutique’ sets sparks flying between Amanda and Ben, Agatha is itching to set them up. But are Amanda and Ben really ready for romance?

The Chic Boutique on Baker Street is the debut novel from Rachel Dove, winner of The Prima Flirty Fiction Competition. You won’t be able to resist this heart-warming romantic story set in an idyllic Yorkshire village, full of lovable characters and laugh-out-loud moments…as Amanda finds her way to a second chance at life and love. This is the reading escape you’ve been looking for!

BUY LINKS

AMAZON UK

WH SMITH

WATERSTONES

The Chic Boutique on Baker St. first caught my eye by the gorgeous cover - how could I resist the chance to read this eh?

I unexpectedly had a free day, so armed with a steaming cup of tea I settled down to read.

I'll be honest, the book didn't grab my attention in the first chapter or so, however there was something there that kept pulling me to read it and I'm glad I did. The more I read on, the more the story unfolded and the more I enjoyed reading it.

The story introduces us to Amanda - a high flying London lawyer who's job just doesn't fulfil her. The final straw comes when she discovers her boyfriend Marcus in a rather compromising situation. Losing her cool, she ends up losing her job and re-locating to a small country village.

Her introduction to Ben, the local vet, isn't a pleasant one and causes a small rift between the two of them, however the small sparks that fly in between don't go unnoticed from the village match makers!

A string of events push Amanda and Ben together but their previous broken hearts simply just push them apart again. It isn't until the thought of each other leaving the village that they admit their feelings to themselves - but is it too late to admit it to each other?

I couldn't read the second half of the book quick enough, I was willing this pair to sort their acts out whilst laughing along to the antics of the elderly ladies trying to pair them up.

Rachel Dove's writing style was really easy to read and flowed well. For me though, there didn't need to be some of the information in the first couple of chapters as that unfolded itself throughout the book anyway, I would have preferred some more of the laugh out loud mishaps within trying to get Amanda and Ben together.

Rating 4/5

Blog Tour ~ Extract | The Chic Boutique on Baker St. ~ Rachel Dove

Today the Chic Boutique blog tour stops by and I have a small extract from the book to tease you with ;-)

The perfect escape to the country…

Recently single and tired of the London rat race Amanda is determined to make her dreams of setting up an idyllic countryside boutique come true, and the picturesque village of West¬field is the perfect place to

make a fresh start.

Local vet Ben is the golden boy of West¬field, especially to resident gossip Agatha Mayweather, who is determined to help Ben get his life back together after his wife left.

When a chance encounter outside the ‘chic boutique’ sets sparks flying between Amanda and Ben, Agatha is itching to set them up. But are Amanda and Ben really ready for romance?

The Chic Boutique on Baker Street is the debut novel from Rachel Dove, winner of The Prima Flirty Fiction Competition. You won’t be able to resist this heart-warming romantic story set in an idyllic Yorkshire village, full of lovable characters and laugh-out-loud moments…as Amanda finds her way to a second chance at life and love. This is the reading escape you’ve been looking for!

About the Author

Rachel Dove is the proud winner of the 2015 Flirty Fiction Competition with Prima Magazine and Mills & Boon. Ecstatic to have her novel chosen out of 300 others, Rachel is now a full-time writer and looks forward to writing her next book. When she is not writing, she can be found raising her sons or curled up under a blanket with a book.

Amazon buy link:

http://amzn.to/1Vx8V9d

Extract

Amanda stared up at the dark wood beam, pondering whether a strip of pale yellow taffeta ribbon would be robust enough as a makeshift noose.

She shook her head, banishing the futile thoughts, and started to clear off the workspace of her new venture when she heard the shutter from next door’s shop go up. The metallic clang reminded her that next door had left their advertising boards out the night before. She picked it up on her way to the shop front. New Lease of Life had only been open for a week or so, and her next-door neighbour, ‘Shampooched’, had not been the ideal business colleague. The twenty-something pink-haired rock enthusiast who worked there was not the friendliest person Amanda had ever encountered, but Amanda didn’t want to make waves, being new to town and living above the shop and all. She took a deep breath and walked backwards into the shop, clasping the heavy A-board, a blackboard detailing their opening times.

 ‘Hey, Tracy, you seem to have left this out . . . er again . . . so . . .’

Amanda was blocked from walking any further by a wall. Squeaking in surprise, she promptly dropped the A-board onto her own foot, this morning clad in soft green ballet pumps, of all things.

‘Owww, son of a b—’

She was tumbling towards the concrete tiled floor, and a bruised bum to boot, when the wall moved and caught her in its grasp. Her words caught in her throat as she gazed up into a pair of steely grey eyes. She found herself smiling despite her embarrassment.

‘I am so sorry, are you OK?’

The man was staring at her with a mixture of concern and amusement. Amanda’s eyes flitted from his chiselled jaw to his full bow lips, and travelled down to his tanned, muscular neck, and his chest, which was encased in a simple black T-shirt. She loved watching the lips move. The movements stopped and Amanda frowned, disappointed. It was then she realised that the lips were attached to an actual person, a person who was waiting for an answer to whatever question these lips had formed.

What is wrong with you?

A voice, soft and cracking with what Amanda thought might be suppressed laughter, broke through the awkward silence.

‘I said, did you hit your head?’ he asked.

Amanda shook her head. ‘Er . . . no, no, just banged it a little. Sorry!’

Looking down at her right shoe, she saw crimson staining the mint green canvas of her pump. He followed her gaze, frowning.

‘I’m Ben. Just stay sat there a sec, I’ll get a chair and the first aid kit.’

Amanda nodded mutely, feeling a little cheated that the moment had passed, and more than a little embarrassed of her own behaviour. Seriously, woman, you used to command the attention of courtrooms, a bloke in a shop trips you up, and you lose it!