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Hopeful Hearts at the Wartime Hotel by Maisie Thomas #Review #PublicationDay

  I am delighted feature another in the WW2 saga by Maisie Thomas. Hopeful Hearts at the Wartime Hotel  is published today by Boldwood Books .  Manchester, 1942. When Kitty Dunbar was forced to confront her husband’s debts and close the family hotel, she transformed Dunbar’s into a storage business for bombed-out families. But with her daughter to support, and relishing her new independence, Kitty is keen to come up with more ways to use the once prestigious hotel. Sharing her home are former chambermaid Lily , and kind-hearted welfare worker Beatrice , both haunted by past loss. Together, the three women create a new kind of family in the heart of the Manchester Blitz: one built on respect and resilience. When Kitty suggests hosting wedding receptions in the old dining room, her friends are happy and willing to lend a hand – and help to serve ‘Dunbar’s Wartime Wedding Punch’! But when Lily meets a handsome doctor, and Beatrice comes face to face with an old ...

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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