BOOK REVIEW: Paper Hearts and Summer Kisses by Carole Matthews

I’ve been a fan of Carole Matthews since reading The Only Way is Up quite a few years ago. Carole’s novels are always nice to curl up with, and are usually full of relatable characters and sweet, believable romance. So when I received a copy of her latest novel, Paper Hearts and Summer Kisses, I was looking forward to reading right away.

Christie is a single, forty-something mum to teenager Finn. She spends most of her days working as a secretary in London, and enduring the daily commute to and from the capital every day. When she isn’t working, Christie turns her attentions to crafting, working on beautiful creations and whiling away her spare time in a world of pretty paper and handmade gifts. To do it professionally would be a dream come true, but for Christie, it seems worlds away.

That is, until her impressive crafting talent lands her an opportunity that’s impossible to turn down – working for an American craft company that wants to extend its top-selling range in the UK.

Christie agrees, and soon finds herself not only doing the job of her dreams (and with a house full of craft supplies!) but also heading out for a training event where she meets the company’s handsome and rather charming Max Alexander.

Max seems lovely, and just as interested in Christie. But just as she’s beginning to live her dream life, a heartbreaking revelation turns her world upside down. Soon she’s forced to make a choice, in order to put her family first.

A hint of love and success just isn’t enough to pull Christie away from her family. A dream can wait…can’t it?

Paper Hearts and Summer Kisses is a charming yet heartwarming story about realising dreams and the importance of family. One thing I enjoy about Carole’s novels is that even though they can be sweet and romantic, they also focus on genuine life issues and hardships, with characters so real and relatable that they soon feel like your close friends. Christie is no exception. She’s a hardworking, loving mum taking life as it comes, and when the opportunity of a lifetime arises, she grabs it. I found myself rooting for her throughout the book – and the lovely Finn, too -  and even when things do start to go wrong. Christie remains headstrong and determined. The romance in this novel is believable and does keep you guessing (I’m deliberately not mentioning much so as not to spoil it for you!) which is another aspect I liked a lot about this book.

Thank you again Carole, for another great read.

Rating: 5/5

UNCOVERED PICKS: Five April Releases

It's a new month! Spring is here, and the sun is out (at the moment, anyway!) There's nothing better than relaxing with a drink and a good book, so here's a selection of five new women's fiction releases for April.

A Life Without You by Shari Low
30 year old Dee Harper and her husband, Joe, are blissfully happy. Every day she makes her loyal parents Val & Don incredibly proud. Jen has been her best friend and 'adopted sister' since their days of teenage crushes, bad 90's make-up and huge hair. They are just like any other group of family and friends, living life, getting by with equal measures of love and laughter. Until one day everything changes. 

Dee is gone, killed by a reckless driver, leaving the people she loved to deal with their grief in different ways. A marriage is rocked as a parent becomes consumed with seeking justice. A husband struggles to accept the loss of his wife and their future. And a friend discovers that there were shocking secrets that went unshared. But all of them have to learn that the only way forward is to let go of the past.

The Woman Who Met Her Match by Fiona Gibson
What if your first love came back on the scene...30 years later?

After yet another disaster, Lorrie is calling time on online dating. She might be single in her forties, but she’s got a good job, wonderful children and she’s happy. This, Lorrie decides, is going to have to be enough.

That is, until she receives a very unexpected request from France. Antoine Rousseau, who had once turned a lonely French exchange trip into a summer of romance, wants to see her – after thirty years.
But Lorrie is a responsible woman. She can’t exactly run off to Nice with the man who broke her teenage heart...can she?

Lost for Words by Stephanie Butland
This bookshop keeps many secrets...

Loveday Cardew prefers books to people. If you look carefully, you might glimpse the first lines of the novels she loves most tattooed on her skin. But there are some things Loveday will never show you.

Into her refuge - the York book emporium where she works - come a poet, a lover, a friend, and three mysterious deliveries, each of which stirs unsettling memories.

Everything is about to change for Loveday. Someone knows about her past and she can't hide any longer. She must decide who around her she can trust. Can she find the courage to right a heartbreaking wrong? And will she ever find the words to tell her own story?

It's time to turn the pages of her past...

Lost and Found by Danielle Ryan
Can true love prevail when the real and online world collide? Melissa Riva works in Milan as a university researcher. After buying an iPad at auction, she finds it contains files belonging to its previous owner. Fascinated by the beautiful photographs of romantic landscapes and views of the city, she starts her search for the previous owner. Locating him through Facebook, Melissa can't resist contacting him. Melissa and Riccardo begin chatting online. Both of them becoming increasingly dependent on this strange relationship, though acutely aware that it's only likely to remain a virtual one. But when real life bursts in on their digital world, they can't resist revealing their true feelings...

The Cows by Dawn O'Porter
COW [n.]
/kaʊ/
A piece of meat; born to breed; past its sell-by-date; one of the herd.

Women don’t have to fall into a stereotype.

Tara, Cam and Stella are strangers living their own lives as best they can – though when society’s screaming you should live life one way, it can be hard to like what you see in the mirror.

When an extraordinary event ties invisible bonds of friendship between them, one woman’s catastrophe becomes another’s inspiration, and a life lesson to all.

Sometimes it’s ok not to follow the herd.

The Cows is a powerful novel about three women – judging each other, but also themselves. In all the noise of modern life, they need to find their own voice.

CUTE COVERS: She Just Can't Help Herself by Ollie Quain

Ollie Quain's 2014 novel How to Lose Weight and Alienate People was a fantastic, fun read that I could hardly put down, so hearing about this year's offering from Ollie made my day. (And to top it off, the cover of this novel is absolutely gorgeous.) She Just Can't Help Herself, in which two very different women reunite, is out in April.

Ashley lives in London and writes for a leading fashion magazine. Her life is sorted. Or at least, that's what it looks like to Tanya, who started out on as an intern with Ashley on a regional newspaper…and has remained there.

Tanya – who wears her heart on her sleeve - is panicky and frustrated. The man of her dreams is backtracking with her baby plans, she can do her job in her sleep.

But Ashley's life isn’t as sorted as it appears. She's dissatisfied at work and is dealing with a double whammy of death and divorce. Or rather, thanks to the mental barbed wire fence she constantly has up, not dealing with it.

The two women haven't seen one another for years, but a chance meeting at a party brings their worlds together. They both discover that while neither can help being themselves, they might be able to help each other.

BLOG TOUR: Interview with Elle Field, author of Lost

Last year we spoke to the lovely Elle Field about her novels Kept and Geli Voyante's Hot or Not. And yesterday saw the release of Elle's latest book, Lost. Lost is the sequel to Kept, focusing on Arielle Lockley (and there'll be a third book in the series released later this year!) Elle has stopped by on her Lost blog tour to answer our weekly questions...

So, what have you been up to since we last spoke to you?
Working hard on getting Lost finished, the second book in the Arielle Lockley series. I've also transitioned from being an author with a day job who writes when she can, to an author who spends half the year working in a day job and half the year writing books. I'm thrilled to have more time to write.

Can you tell us more about your latest book, Lost?
Of course! Lost begins two months after the end of Kept, and Arielle is busy planning her shop launch in London, as well as her wedding to Piers. With a new-found foe interfering with her business decisions, not to mention haughty wedding planners and loved ones facing personal struggles, Arielle needs to figure out what's important before all is lost.

What are you reading at the moment?
I'm on a bit of a crime thrillers spree at the moment, and am working my way through Black Wood by S.J.I. Holliday and Prey by James Carol. Chick-lit wise, I recently read Tied Up with Love by Amelia Thorne. I really loved it!

Are there any authors who have inspired you?
It's great to see authors who were originally self-published getting traditional publishing deals or being hybrid authors. It's even better to see that they are doing so well! Rachael Lucas, Anna Bell, Talli Roland and Cathy Bramley, to name a few, are all so inspirational.

What kind of research did you do for your latest novel?
As Arielle is planning on opening a shop in London, I did lots of research into the retail rental market in London and had fun thinking up her dream shop. This involved research trips to Camden Lock, the King's Road and Covent Garden, as well as trawling through estate agent websites to get an idea of the costs involved. Some places were asking for £250,000 per year, and that was just for the rental charge! I also had to research what it would be like to plan a wedding , picking out dresses and venues for Arielle's big day to Piers, which was a lot of fun. I stuck to online research and bridal magazines as I didn't want to attend wedding fairs and boutiques, not being engaged myself!

What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
I really liked sharing Ob's voice - he writes the prologue and epilogue - and I also enjoyed including a new character who makes trouble for Arielle's business plans. It was lovely to catch up with the characters of Kept again, even though some of them don't have a very happy time throughout the book.

What are you working on next? 
I'll be working on the next, and (probably) final book in the Arielle Lockley series. Found will be out later on in the year, and it may share more of Ob's perspective this time round. I also want to finish writing The Dirtification of Tabitha-Rose, especially since Tabitha has a big part in Lost - in fact, part of her plotline in Lost came out of The Dirtification of Tabitha-Rose. I really love how my characters cross over and pop up in my other books.

Thanks, Elle!

Lost is available in paperback and Kindle format now. If you haven't yet read Kept, the first book in the Arielle Lockley series, buy it here.

You can find out more about Elle Field by visiting her blog or Facebook page, or following her on Twitter.

About Lost

"I'm starting to realise that age is just a number, but Tabitha pointed out I'm only saying that because I'm twenty-five, engaged, and have my life together. (Touch wood things stay that way.)" 

Arielle is back! OK, she's not on her way to becoming the next Coco Chanel, her childhood dream, but she is one way step closer to running her very own shop with her business partner, Felicity. 

She's also planning her perfect romantic wedding to fiancé, Piers, and Arielle is starting to believe that she's finally found her place in the world... 

Of course life is never that straightforward. 

With a new-found foe interfering with her shop decisions, not to mention haughty wedding planners and loved ones facing personal struggles, will Arielle figure out what's important before all is lost? 

About Elle 

Elle Field lives in London with her boyfriend and their cat. She enjoys exploring new places, watching musicals on the West End, and eating her way around London’s culinary delights.

Her first novel Kept was released in April 2013; Geli Voyante’s Hot or Not followed in October 2013. Lost, the sequel to Kept, is out now. Look out for the final book in the Arielle Lockley series, Found, towards the end of the year.

Giveaway!

Enter below to win a paperback set of the Arielle Lockley novels!

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BOOK NEWS: The Girl Who Couldn't Stop Arguing by Melissa Kite

Having loved the 2012 book Real Life by journalist Melissa Kite, I was very excited to hear of Melissa's upcoming novel, The Girl Who Couldn't Stop Arguing. Said to be perfect for fans of Helen Fielding  and Allison Pearson, The Girl Who Couldn't Stop Arguing will be released on April 2nd and is about a woman who has always focused on being right rather than happy...

Madison Flight refuses to be born for five days. She comes out eventually - kicking, screaming, and scarred for life by forceps - but it isn't long before her mother, Cynthia, realises the terrible truth: she has given birth to the world's first arguing baby. Cyntha's husband Mitchell soon takes off in terror, leaving her to raise their quarrelsome rugrat with only the help of the next door neighbour Shirley - a sadistic retired nurse who detests children. Madison's young life is full of proud milestones: at the age of one she breaks the world record for the number of times anyone has said the word 'no' during a two week Spanish package holiday - 4,477 times - and she gets better with practice. Lots of practice. This is the story of a girl who wanted to be right rather than happy. This is the story of the girl who couldn't stop arguing.

BOOK NEWS: The Day We Disappeared by Lucy Robinson

Lucy Robinson has brought us some wonderfully funny and beautifully written novels, including A Passionate Love Affair With a Total Stranger and The Unfinished Symphony of You and Me, so it was exciting to hear about her next novel which is due for release in April. The Day We Disappeared focuses on two friends, Annie and Kate, who hold secrets that might just cause their lives to collide.

It's springtime in London and everything is about to change for Annie Mulholland. From the moment she meets Stephen Flint, things seem too good to be true as Annie abandons her customary cautiousness for a wild love affair.

In Somerset, Kate Brady is starting a new job. Fresh air, new faces and good old fashioned hard work is just what she needs to put everything that happened in Dublin behind her.

But what are these two old friends hiding, and for how long can they run from the secrets of their past before they come crashing into their futures?

BOOK NEWS: The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

There are to be many exciting new books being released in 2015, and one of those titles is The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George. Published in April, The Little Paris Bookshop looks set to be an enchanting, romantic tale about a bookseller who possesses a wonderful gift.

On a beautifully restored barge on the Seine, Jean Perdu runs a bookshop; or rather a 'literary apothecary', for this bookseller possesses a rare gift for sensing which books will soothe the troubled souls of his customers. The only person he is unable to cure, it seems, is himself. He has nursed a broken heart ever since the night, twenty-one years ago, when the love of his life fled Paris, leaving behind a handwritten letter that he has never dared read. His memories and his love have been gathering dust - until now. The arrival of an enigmatic new neighbour in his eccentric apartment building on Rue Montagnard inspires Jean to unlock his heart, unmoor the floating bookshop and set off for Provence, in search of the past and his beloved.

BOOK NEWS: The Cake Shop in the Garden by Carole Matthews

The Cake Shop in the Garden is the upcoming novel from bestselling author Carole Matthews (her festive novel The Christmas Party is such a fun read!) Sadly, we're going to have to wait a little while yet - The Cake Shop in the Garden will not be released until April 2015! Read on for the blurb...

Fay Merryweather runs her cake shop from her beautiful garden. She whips up airy sponges and scrumptious scones, while her customers enjoy the lovely blossoms and gorgeous blooms. Looking after the cake shop, the garden and her cantankerous mother means Fay is always busy but she accepts her responsibilities because if she doesn't do all this, who will? Then Danny Wilde walks into her life and makes Fay question every decision she's ever made. When a sudden tragedy strikes, Fay's entire world is thrown off balance even further and she doesn't know which way to turn. Can Fay find the strength to make a life-changing decision - even if it means giving up the thing she loves the most? Life, love and family are about to collide in The Cake Shop in the Garden.

NEW RELEASE: A Place to Call Home by Carole Matthews

A Place to Call Home, by bestselling author Carole Matthews (Summer Daydreams, Wrapped Up In You) was released today in paperback and e-book. Carole’s latest novel is about a home shared by four very different people who are about to become unlikely friends…

In the dead of night, Ayesha takes her daughter, Sabina, and slips quietly from her home, leaving behind a life of full of pain. Boarding a coach to London, all Ayesha wants is a fresh start. Hayden, a former popstar, has kept himself hidden away for years. He's only opened up his home to two people - Crystal, a professional dancer with a heart of gold, and Joy, an ill-tempered retiree with a soft spot for waifs and strays. When Crystal asks Hayden if Ayesha and Sabina can stay with them, he reluctantly agrees and, as different as they may be, they quickly form an unlikely bond. So when enemies threaten their peaceful home, they will do all they can to save it and each other. Uplifting and emotional, this is a novel of new beginnings, of discovering love and of finding A Place to Call Home.