Review | Christmas at the Little Village Bakery (Honeybourne Book 2) ~ Tilly Tennant

Christmas at the Little Village Bakery

Honeybourne Book 2

Tilly Tennant

Bookouture

September 2016

Rating 4/5

Kindle | Paperback

           

Snow is falling in Honeybourne and Spencer is bringing home his American fiancée Tori for a traditional English Christmas with all the trimmings. But when his hippie mum and dad meet her high maintenance parents, sparks of the wrong sort start to fly. Then Spencer bumps into his first love Jasmine and unexpected feelings come flooding back.

Millie is run off her feet with Christmas orders at the Little Village Bakery and new babyOscar. Thank goodness her cousin Darcie is here to help her. Although she does seem to be rather flirty with Millie’s boyfriend Dylan.

Will Darcie ever find true love of her own? And is marrying Tori a terrible mistake for Spencer if his heart is with someone else?

          

I absolutely love Tilly Tennant books - her characters are so engaging and whenever I'm reading dialogue between them, it always feels so real - almost as if I'm in the room too!

Returning to Honeybourne for Christmas at the Little Village Bakery wasn't what I was expecting in the slightest. Yes the synopsis kind of suggests we will be looking more at Spencer but I did't actually read this as it came as a pleasent surprise.

Spencer has returned to his village home with Tori whom we briefly met in the first book, yet their relationship isn't quite as rosy as you would like for a rececntly engaged couple.

Christmas is looming and so are their parents!

We meet both Spencer and Tori's parents whom are complete opposites and clash in every way possible - I enjoyed reading the contrast between the two sets but felt for couple as their parents seemed to just cause more and more rifts in their relationship.

The familiar old faces have also returned in this sequel - Millie and Dylan are busy trying to run the bakery along learning how to juggle life as new parents.

There are also references pub, Dylan's sister Jas and her family and of course the nosy Ruth who I really think could have a book of her own!

The new addition to Christmas at the Little Village Bakery is Millie's cousin Darcie.

Along with Spencer and Tori's story, the book also plays heavily on Darcie's which for me worked well and keep it interesting.

Darcie has a bit of a crush on Dylan and whilst I felt that Tilly could have played more on this in the book, it was nice to see Darcie deal with her feelings and move forward.

All in all, Christmas at the Little Village Bakery is a gorgeous festive read filled with ups and downs, friendships and love.

I'm looking forward to what Tilly has up her sleeve next!

         

Review | The Little Village Bakery (Honeybourne, Book 1) ~ Tilly Tennant

The Little Village Bakery

Honeybourne, Book 1.

Author: Tilly Tennant

Publisher: Bookouture

Published: June 2016

Kindle | Paperback

Help yourself to a generous slice of Victoria sponge, a perfect cup of tea and a big dollop of romance. Welcome to the Little Village Bakery. 

Meet Millie. Heartbreak has forced her to make a new start and when she arrives at the old bakery in the little village of Honeybourne she is determined that this will be her home sweet home. Her imagination has been captured by the tumbledown bakery but with no running water and dust everywhere, her cosy idea of making cakes in a rural idyll quickly crumbles. 

Luckily the locals are a friendly bunch and step in to help Millie. One in particular,Dylan, a laid-back lothario, soon captures her attention. 

But just as Millie is beginning to settle in, an unexpected visitor from her past suddenly turns up determined to ruin everything for her. It’s time for Millie to face the skeletons in her closet if she’s going to live the dream of running her little village bakery, and her blossoming romance with Dylan. 

A charming heartwarming novel about love, life and new beginnings perfect for fans of Milly Johnson and Debbie Johnson.

As many of you will know from my recent social media posts, I've been unwell and signed off work, which should be a great excuse to catch up with reading. However you may also recently know that my reading mojo disappeared. Putting all this together made Lozza's Book Corner a rather sad place.

I then picked up this rather gorgeous looking book by the talented Tilly Tennant. It gripped me immediately but the blasted pain meant that I was unable to read for long periods of time so it took me slightly longer than I believe it would have done on full health.

I love Tilly's writing style. It's easy going, light-hearted and has a great feel good factor, however I felt that The Little Village Bakery was slightly more gripping than the other books I have read from this author.

Right from the beginning, when the main character Millie moves to the Hampshire village of Honeybourne, we know that she is plagued with something awful from her past. The book kept the suspense going for a good 2/3's of the story whilst along the way Millie's past comes to haunt her.

Alongside Millie, there is a whole bunch of delightful characters, who each have equally good sub plots and I'm delighted that at the end of the book Tilly announced that she will be re-visiting them as I'd love to know how their lives have moved on from the drama!

What I loved about this book though is a real sense of community spirit. When Millie decided to up sticks from Millrise (Tilly fans will recognise this landmark from her previous work) and move to Honeybourne, she brought the run down bakery. Upon arriving she discovered that it needed much more work than she anticipated but the locals all rallyed round to help in anyway they could.

The Little Village Bakery is a gorgeous novel for summer, full with plenty of drama, laughs and happy endings.

Rating 5/5

Blog Tour ~ Review + Giveaway | One Starry Night (Once Upon A Winter, Book 4) ~ Tilly Tennant

Genre: Chick lit

Release Date: 30th March 2016

Publisher:  Lawsome Books

They say the darkest hour is just before dawn, and for the first time Hannah is starting to truly understand what that means. With Gina’s husband misbehaving, Ross under attack, and bad news for Mitchell that only Hannah can tell him, things seem to be falling apart around her. 

How will she be the rock that everyone needs when she can’t control any part of her own life? It’s going to take a special kind of courage to see this dawn break, but when it does the future might just be the brighter for it. The problem is that Hannah’s not sure she can be that strong...

BUY LINKS

AMAZON UK

AMAZON US

Before I start my review, I think its only fair now that the series is complete, that we see all four book covers together...

Aren't they just gorgeous?

They really capture winter which is, as the title suggest, the season the books are set in and as much as I loved the books and the complete story, I did feel that it lacked a little snow as can see the set of characters either having snow ball fights or being snowed in together ;)

As with my previous reviews, this will be fairly short to try and avoid too many spoilers plus the fact that the novella itself is short.

To recap then, in The Accidental Guest we are introduced to the main character, Hannah, and her sister and niece, Gina & Jess respectively, on Christmas day. All seems fairly normal - banter, gifts, turkey and trimmings, until an unexpected knock at the door introduces them to a man with head injuries and memory loss. Whilst waiting for paramedics, the girls name him Tom, but its Hannah in particular he is take with and her to him. So much so that Hannah can't forget him and darts to the hospital to check all is ok... only to fail. Meanwhile we are introduced to hunky farmer and neighbour, Ross, who keeps coming to the girls' rescue one way or another.

The girls are roped into a charity dance hosted by Ross' mother in I'm Not In Love and this is the first time we see Ross and Gina get closer. Whilst Hannah is trying hard to forget what connection she felt to Tom who we know as Mitchell, he just happens to walk into the party with his wife! Slowly over this book and Ways To Say Goodbye, Mitchell's memory comes back and he realises things about his marriage whilst getting closer to Hannah. Book 3 had an element of mystery about it as a strange car kept being mentioned and was often spotted outside of Hannah's home, however we aren't sure who it belongs to until Ross ends up in hospital! 

Finally One Starry Night see's relationships move forward between Hannah and Mitchell, Gina and Ross and Gina and Jess who have had some feisty mother-daughter moments throughout. The series of books comes to a delightful closure, albeit a sad few paragraphs involving Hannah's lovely elderly neighbour and friend, George. 

Overall the Once Upon A Winter series is a gorgeous story of love and friendship - there are bumps along the way but it tales a tale of moving on, opening your heart and being true to yourself.

I can't wait for more from Tilly Tennant.

Thank you to Brook Cottage Books for supplying review copies of the four parts.

About Tilly Tennant

Tilly Tennant was born in Dorset, the oldest of four children, but now lives in Staffordshire with a family of her own. After years of dismal and disastrous jobs, including paper plate stacking, shop girl, newspaper promotions and waitressing (she never could carry a bowl of soup without spilling a bit), she decided to indulge her passion for the written word by embarking on a degree in English and creative writing, graduating in 2009 with first class honours. She wrote her first novel in 2007 during her first summer break at university and has not stopped writing since. She also works as a freelance fiction editor, and considers herself very lucky that this enables her to read many wonderful books before the rest of the world gets them.

Hopelessly Devoted to Holden Finn was her debut novel; published in 2014 it was an Amazon bestseller in both the UK and Australia. It was followed by Mishaps and Mistletoe and The Man Who Can't Be Moved. Find out more about Tilly and how to join her mailing list for news and exclusives at www.tillytennant.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TillyTennant/?ref=hl

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TillyTenWriter

website: www.tillytennant.com

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour ~ Review + Giveaway | Ways To Say Goodbye (Once Upon A Winter, Book 3) ~ Tilly Tennant

Genre: Chick lit

Release Date: 18TH February 2016

Publisher:  Lawsome Books

BUY LINKS

AMAZON UK

AMAZON US

When Mitchell shocked Hannah with his decision, it seemed that happiness might be just around the corner; but, as usual, fate steps in to snatch it from under Hannah’s nose. Instead of the bliss she was promised, problems are now flying at her so fast it’s hard to know what to deal with first. There’s the appearance of a mystery car that seems to be stalking her every move. Then there’s sister, Gina, torn between hunky young farmer, Ross, and giving her cheating husband a second chance to save their family. Most worrying of all, Mitchell’s memory is finally back but if Hannah had thought this would be a good thing, she soon discovers nothing could be further than the truth.

What will this all mean for Hannah? She deserves a happy ending, but right now it seems horribly far away...

Review - apologies again for it being short and sweet but these are short stories and I don't want to give the story away!

I'm really enjoying this series from Tilly Tennant. Ways To Say Goodbye is the 3rd book in the Once Upon A Winter stories and as with the 1st book, I absolutely flew through this one - granted being a novella it is shorter than a full novel but I still think an hour is good - especially for me. Tilly is a fabulous story teller and I really feel like I know the characters and the area in which the story is set.

In this section there is everything I've come to love from Hannah and her sister Gina except there are a lot more twists and turns than I was expecting. Without giving too much away, every time Hannah feels like something is going right, something goes wrong! 

There is a fair bit going on in this book too - Hannah and Mitchell sort of get their act together but not before his memory comes back and he darts off to Martine, Gina and Jess come to blows over moving back to Millrise.. the mystery car - just who is this?!?! I NEED to know!! 

The biggest twist in this section of the story for me came right at the end and all I shall say is it involves Ross and the hospital.... I'm off to delve into the last part RIGHT NOW!!

To read my review of The Accidental Guest which is book one in the Once Upon A Winter series, please click here. For book two, I'm Not In Love, click here.

                      

About The Author

Tilly Tennant was born in Dorset, the oldest of four children, but now lives in Staffordshire with a family of her own. After years of dismal and disastrous jobs, including paper plate stacking, shop girl, newspaper promotions and waitressing (she never could carry a bowl of soup without spilling a bit), she decided to indulge her passion for the written word by embarking on a degree in English and creative writing, graduating in 2009 with first class honours. She wrote her first novel in 2007 during her first summer break at university and has not stopped writing since. She also works as a freelance fiction editor, and considers herself very lucky that this enables her to read many wonderful books before the rest of the world gets them.

Hopelessly Devoted to Holden Finn was her debut novel; published in 2014 it was an Amazon bestseller in both the UK and Australia. It was followed by Mishaps and Mistletoe and The Man Who Can't Be Moved. Find out more about Tilly and how to join her mailing list for news and exclusives at www.tillytennant.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TillyTennant/?ref=hl

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TillyTenWriter

website: www.tillytennant.com

GIVEAWAY £10 (or equivalent) Amazon Gift Card a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour ~ Review + Giveaway | Im Not In Love (Once Upon A Winter, Book 2) ~ Tilly Tenant

I'm delighted to be back on the blog tour hosted by Brook Cottage Books for the next installment of Tilly Tennant's latest series, Once Upon A Winter.
Book two is titled I'm Not In Love and I would like to thank Tilly and BCB for a review copy, for my review of Book one, The Accidental Guest, please click here.

Genre: Chick lit

Release Date: 7th January 2016

Publisher:  Lawsome Books

The tinsel and baubles are packed away, and the festivities are over for another year, but Hannah can’t forget the mysterious stranger who fell into her world on Christmas Day. She flings herself back into normal life in a bid to get him out of her head, which means dating other men and having fun with her sister, Gina. But just as she’s getting back on track, fate throws him into her path once more. And this time it results in far more complications than a burnt turkey.

Meanwhile, Gina, is creating problems of her own. As if a messy divorce isn’t enough, she grows closer to Ross, the local farmer’s son. Hannah knows her sister is not going to be popular when the relationship becomes public, especially with Ross’s doting parents or, indeed, Jess, Gina’s teenage daughter, who is far closer in age to Ross than Gina is herself.

Things are about to get very, very messy in Hannah’s neat little world…

BUY LINKS

AMAZON UK

AMAZON US

My Review 

(please note, this is short and sweet as the book is a novella and I don't want to give too many spoilers!)

We pick up Hannah's story just after Christmas. Her sister and niece, Gina and Jess, have returned home and Hannah is trying to get back to normality, however the mysterious Tom - whom if you remember turned up with no recollection who or where he was on Christmas Day - is still very much playing on her mind.

She throws herself into everyday life but when Tom, who we learn to know as Mitchell, arrives at her door for a second time with his wife, Hannah's thoughts and feelings are again thrown into turmoil. After Mitchell and his wife, Martine, thank Hannah for her festive help they are off and she tries to clear them from her mind and life.

The gorgeous, farmer man Ross is still very much another hero of the story as he continuously helps Hannah out and after she ends up having tea and cake with his mother, she is talked into attending a charity dance. Begging Gina back up to stay and attend with her, Hannah enjoys herself until Mitchell and Martine arrive. 

The end of this part of the story is left with Hannah pondering over some very specific words exchanged from her and Mitchell...

As with book one, this was a fairy quick read, although I found the first few pages a little slow getting into - I think this was more down to the fact that a while had past since I read the first part and so I was having to remember bits before moving on.

What I love about Tilly's writing style is her ability to make you feel part of the conversation between characters - throughout the whole of I'm Not In Love, I felt like I was there listening first hand!

What I don't love so much is the fact I have to wait for the next part...Ahhh!

About The Author

Tilly Tennant was born in Dorset, the oldest of four children, but now lives in Staffordshire with a family of her own. After years of dismal and disastrous jobs, including paper plate stacking, shop girl, newspaper promotions and waitressing (she never could carry a bowl of soup without spilling a bit), she decided to indulge her passion for the written word by embarking on a degree in English and creative writing, graduating in 2009 with first class honours. She wrote her first novel in 2007 during her first summer break at university and has not stopped writing since. She also works as a freelance fiction editor, and considers herself very lucky that this enables her to read many wonderful books before the rest of the world gets them.

Hopelessly Devoted to Holden Finn was her debut novel; published in 2014 it was an Amazon bestseller in both the UK and Australia. It was followed by Mishaps and Mistletoe and The Man Who Can't Be Moved. Find out more about Tilly and how to join her mailing list for news and exclusives at www.tillytennant.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TillyTennant/?ref=hl

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TillyTenWriter

website: www.tillytennant.com

GIVEAWAY

£10 (or equivalent) Amazon Gift Card x 2

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour | Review: The Accidental Guest (Once Upon A Winter, Book 1) by Tilly Tennant

Today is my stop on the blog tour for The Accidental Guest which is the first part of a four piece novella by Tilly Tennant from her new series - Once Upon A Winter.

Below you will find not only the gorgeous cover for this, but the blurb, my review and a give-away.

I would like to thank Tilly and Brook Cottage Books for the review copy.

BUY LINKS

AMAZON UK

AMAZON.COM

From the author of the much-loved, best-selling Mishaps in Millrise, a brand new four-novella-part series, Once Upon a Winter - come and fall in love this Christmas!

Soulmates don’t just fall from the sky… do they?

Hannah Meadows doesn’t believe in fate or destiny, or any of the other things people reach for when they lose control of their lives. That is, until a man arrives on her doorstep on Christmas Day begging for help. Hannah’s not the sort of woman to turn her back on someone in need, but this isn’t what compels her to aid the handsome stranger, nor is it his intense dark eyes, or the inexplicable feelings she quickly develops for him.

Something magical is coming her way, something that will turn her life completely upside down. Hannah Meadows may not believe in fate or destiny, but they seem to have other ideas…

I haven't read any of Tilly's work before now, I think I came onto the blogging scene part way through her last series, Mishaps In Millrise, but have seen lots of good things about her, so when the chance came to join in with the blog tour hosted by Brook Cottage Books, I jumped at the chance.

Being a novella this was a quick read, in fact I finished it in just over an hour, but that didn't mean that the story lacked in anyway - it was full of exciting and lively characters, mystery and wonder on the plot, and an idyllic setting which just so happens to be covered in gorgeous white, fluffy snow!

We are quickly introduced to Hannah on Christmas morning who has her sister and niece, Gina and Jess, to stay. The three characters together just bounced off each other and I quickly got a soft spot for them. Their Christmas day doesn't quite got to plan when a mysterious man knocks on the front door, frozen and nursing a head injury, and not knowing who he is, how he got there or any other details!

As he is carted off via ambulance, Hannah can't help wondering about him so decides, much to Gina's dismay, to go to the hopsital on Boxing day and see if he he has his memory back. Being snowed in they are offered a lift by the hunky farmer in his tractor which seems to cheer Gina right up!

I really enjoyed the start to this story and can't wait to see what happens in the next part!

About The Author

Tilly Tennant was born in Dorset, the oldest of four children, but now lives in Staffordshire with a family of her own. After years of dismal and disastrous jobs, including paper plate stacking, shop girl, newspaper promotions and waitressing (she never could carry a bowl of soup without spilling a bit), she decided to indulge her passion for the written word by embarking on a degree in English and creative writing, graduating in 2009 with first class honours. She wrote her first novel in 2007 during her first summer break at university and has not stopped writing since. She also works as a freelance fiction editor, and considers herself very lucky that this enables her to read many wonderful books before the rest of the world gets them.Hopelessly Devoted to Holden Finn was her debut novel; published in 2014 it was an Amazon bestseller in both the UK and Australia. It was followed by Mishaps and Mistletoe and The Man Who Can't Be Moved. Find out more about Tilly and how to join her mailing list for news and exclusives at www.tillytennant.com
www.tillytennant.com
https://twitter.com/TillyTenWriter
https://www.facebook.com/TillyTennant

GIVEAWAY

Amazon gift card £10 / $15

a Rafflecopter giveaway