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His Last Christmas Gift by Debra Borchert #Review

    His Last Christmas Gift by Debra Borchert will take you to a different country and season. It was published by Le Vin Press on 1st November 2025. Widowed, fired, and 50, Claire is one hot mess. This later in life romance hits like a snowball packed with grief and hope and mystery and the kind of second-chance that says, “I didn’t think I’d ever feel this again, and now I’m terrified, but… Hi.” Romance that’s frost melting off a windowpane. It’s “I forgot my heart could do this.” It’s love doesn’t have an expiration date. Twinkly lights, mulled wine and flaming crêpes so immerse you in Christmas markets—you’ll book a flight to France before the fares go up. A book club fiction favourite, Claire’s journey of self-discovery is perfect for fans of women’s fiction and stories about strong women over 50 navigating reinvention with inspiration, humour, with a delicious frosting of romance. “Give yourself the gift of a lush, romantic, French adventure and be swept away ...

The Forgotten Room by Ann Troup ** Weekend Blitz Review & Giveaway **

I'm loving being the next stop on the blog tour to celebrate the launch of Ann Troup's The Forgotten Room. There's also a great Giveaway for you to have a try. To be in with a chance of winning Ann's Winter Reading Bundle, find out how to enter at the end of this post. 

 Can the past ever be forgotten?


As soon as nurse Maura Lyle sets foot inside the foreboding Essen Grange, she feels shivers ripple down her spine. And the sense of unease only increases when she meets her new patient, Gordon Henderson.



Drawn into the Henderson family’s tangled web of secrets and betrayals, Maura can ignore the danger lurking behind every door no longer. Even the door she has been forbidden from opening...



Essen Grange is a house with dark and cruel intentions. But now that darkness has turned on her, can Maura escape before it’s too late?

My Thoughts

This turned out to be the ideal Hallowe'en read. It has the ultimate Gothic House, mysterious characters, secrets from the past and plenty of ghoulish happenings. Of course, Essen Grange is in fact the star of the show. It takes on a presence of its own and is in many ways, a hidden character in the story. It holds the key to the mystery and it is fitting that it takes pride of place on the cover.

    This is a book with a complicated plot. It was quite a challenge to keep up with the revelations but I think I managed to work it all out in the end. You realise that there are no superfluous references or peripheral characters. It is a complex web of intrigue and every ounce of the book counts. It is not for the faint hearted.

    I enjoy the way you get to see the story through different perspectives which adds interest and helps to move the plot along. As a reader, I like to be wrong footed by the writer and I think Ann Troup manages to do this several times in this book. You are never really sure which characters, if any, you can trust and certainly you can't take anyone at face value.

In short: Enter Essen House- if you dare...

About the Author

The Forgotten Room is Ann’s third book, following on from The Lost Child and The Silent Girls. She lives in Devon near the sea and spends her time either writing or dabbling with art. To see what she’s getting up to next follow on Twitter – @TroupAnn or Facebook at Ann Troup Author.
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