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Making Memories at the Cornish Cove by Kim Nash #Review

  We are back with the Cornish Cove series with Kim Nash's Making Memories at the Cornish Cove . It was published by Boldwood Books on April 17th. You can read my review of  Hopeful Hearts at the Cornish Cove here and Finding Family at the Cornish Cove   here .    It’s never too late… After five husbands and five broken hearts, Lydia feels like she’s always been chasing something. But now she’s found her purpose, and having moved to Driftwood Bay to spend more time with her daughter Meredith, she’s happier than ever. But there’s still life in these old bones yet! With her newfound sense of identity, she’s keen to re-explore the things that made her happy as a younger person. Lydia’s passion was dancing – she used to compete in her younger years, and there’s no place she’s more at home than on the dancefloor. So when widower and antiques restorer Martin tells her about a big dance competition, she’s ready and raring to bring more joy into her life. But while making mem

Illusion by Stephanie Elmas ** Blog Tour Review & Giveaway**

Today I have just the book for these cold, November nights: Illusion by Stephanie Elmas. Full of atmosphere and mystery and suspense, Endeavour Press are celebrating its launch with a Giveaway- details on how to enter are at the end of this post.
 
London, 1873. Returning home from his travels with a stowaway named Kayan, Walter Balanchine is noted for the charms, potions and locket hanging from his neck. Finding his friend Tom Winter’s mother unwell, he gives her a potion he learned to brew in the Far East. Lucid and free from pain, the old woman remembers something about Walter’s mother.

Walter is intrigued, for he has never known his family or even his own name – he christened himself upon leaving the workhouse. Living in a cemetery with his pet panther Sinbad to keep the body snatchers away, word soon spreads of his healing and magical abilities and he becomes a sought after party performer.

During one of Walter’s parties, Tom is approached by Tamara Huntington, who reveals she is being forced to marry a man she does not love. Will he and Walter come to her rescue? Try as they might, sometimes all the best intentions in the world can’t put a stop to a bad thing, and she is soon married off to the cruel Cecil Hearst.

Drama and tragedy ensue, and Walter keeps his distance from Tamara. That is until her stricken brother-in-law Daniel requires his magical healing, and he is forced back into her life. With secrets beginning to emerge, Walter finds his mother may be a lot closer to home than he realised…


Filled with mystery, magic and larger than life characters, Illusion will keep you guessing until the very last page. 


 My Thoughts

In this novel, Stephanie Elmas conjures up a mysterious, dark story full of larger than life characters. There is a real Gothic feel to it, with Tamara apparently doomed to be tied in marriage with the wicked Lord Cecil. Shut away in his forbidding house at Dovesteads, you feel her helplessness as she tries to come to terms with life there, with her cruel husband. I particularly enjoyed the way life in Victorian times was described, with lots of details, especially showing life in the East End. The whole story goes along at a cracking pace.

    At times, you feel how aptly named the novel is as you are never quite sure what is going to happen next. Walter's potions and illusions cast a spell over events and you find yourself wondering just what is going to happen next and whether there is real magic at loose. Twists and turns and the unexpected make it such an enjoyable read and the cast of characters are great fun. 

In short: vivid descriptions, exuberant characters and a darkly satisfying plot.
   
About the Author 

 Stephanie Elmas was born in Hong Kong to an English father and Czech mother but spent most of her childhood in Bristol, England UK. She studied English at university in London. She has worked as a head hunter, taught English in Japan and returned to university to complete a Masters in Victorian fiction. It was here that she developed her interest in the dark dangerous world of Victorian sensation writing. Stephanie now lives in a chaotic house in Surrey, England UK, with her husband and three highly energetic but wonderful children. 

You can follow Stephanie here: Website   |  Twitter

Endeavour Press:    |  Facebook    |  Website  |  TwitterInstagram

 Book Link: Amazon UK

Giveaway (International)

Tracey at Carpe Librum is running a Giveaway for the duration of the Blog Tour from November 13-24th.   To win a paperback copy of Illusion courtesy of Endeavour Press,  follow this link to her blog. 

Catch up with these other great bloggers!

  

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