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One Winter at the French Chalet by Mandy Baggot #Review

  We are travelling to France for Mandy Baggot's latest romcom, One Winter at the French Chalet which was published by Boldwood Books on October 4th. Things aren’t going well for travel writer Orla Bradbee. With Christmas fast approaching, her boss is insisting Orla must travel to a rural village in France to interview a man who doesn’t speak. But with trouble at home – her teenage sister Erin is in a ‘situationship’ with a man online – Orla’s only plan is to take Erin with her. Get the interview done, find out more about this online Romeo and still be back in time for Christmas dinner. Easy, right? Saint-Chambéry is a picturesque French village nestled in the snow-capped mountains, but Jacques Barbier – gorgeous and brooding, yet a man of few words – makes it clear that Orla is wasting her time here. Orla can’t deny that Jacques intrigues and infuriates her, but what is the mysterious Frenchman hiding exactly? And can she get close enough to uncover his secrets with

The Little Theatre on the Seafront by Katie Ginger ** Blog Tour Review **


I'm so happy to be on the blog tour to celebrate the publication of The Little Theatre on the Seafront by Katie Ginger. 
 
When Lottie’s Gran dies she leaves one last request; save Greenley Theatre.

Faced with a decaying building, a mayor who most definitely isn’t on board with the project and a group of actors who just can’t get along, Lottie has her hands full, but with best friend Sid by her side she knows she can do it somehow.

But the arrival of Jeremy, a hotshot London developer who sweeps Lottie off her feet, complicates things. Suddenly Sid gets a new girlfriend, the Greenley Players fall apart, and that crumbling building? Well it crumbles a whole lot more. With no one to turn to, Lottie has to find the courage to save the day.

Will Lottie be able to save the theatre and also follow her heart?

My Thoughts

I loved the setting for this story and the basic premise of trying to resurrect the local theatre for the community. It is the community which gives the book its life and colour and the variety of members of the company and the local politicians give it real heart. Lottie turns out to be one of those characters with flaws as well as good points and you get to see her mature and take on challenges along the way.

    Someone who is always present in the story but who we can never meet is of course Lottie's Grandmother. You get a sense of what sort of person she was by seeing how Lottie reacts in certain moments and I am sure she shared Lottie's determination and spark. This is very much a will they, won't they? plot as you see Lottie and Sid skirt around their true feelings. I enjoyed the additional aspect which their jobs on the local newspaper gave to moving the story on.  This is one of those lovely reads which you disappear into for an afternoon and which takes you out of yourself. 

In short: A beautiful setting, friendship and community lie at the heart of this book.
About the Author


KATIE GINGER lives in the South East of England, by the sea, and apart from holidays to very hot places where you can sit by a pool and drink cocktails as big your head, she wouldn't really want to be anywhere else. This is Katie's debut novel but she is also the author of some cosy mystery short stories. She loves making her characters either fall in love, or killing them off - it depends on her mood!
When she's not writing, Katie spends her time drinking gin, or with her husband, trying to keep alive her two children: Ellie, who believes everything in life should be done as a musical number from a West End show; and Sam, who is basically a monkey with a boy's face. And there's also their adorable King Charles Spaniel, Wotsit (yes, he is named after the crisps!).
For more about Katie you can visit her website: www.keginger.com, find her on Facebook: www.facebook.com/KatieGAuthor, or follow her on Twitter: @KatieGAuthor

Thanks to Katie Ginger for a copy of the book and a place on the Blog Tour. 




 

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