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The Christmas Retreat by Trisha Ashley #Review

Best-selling author, Tricia Ashley's The Christmas Retreat  was published in hardback on November 6th by Bantam Press . I am delighted to be taking part in the celebrations for this lovely festive read .   Ginny Spain usually loves Christmas. Not this year, though. After witnessing a traumatic accident and breaking up with her ex, she plans to spend it alone. But her formidable art historian mother, Evie, has other ideas. Determined to drag her daughter out of isolation, Evie persuades Ginny to spend Christmas with her at an artist and writer’s retreat at Triskelion, a remote old house in the tiny coastal village of Little Star. But Evie’s plans aren’t without an ulterior motive – having discovered that her grandmother was an artist and spent time at Triskelion house, she wants to unlock the secrets surrounding her and Ginny’s ancestor. Rugged Rhys Tarn lives at Triskelion with his ten year old daughter, having lost his wife in mysterious and distressing circumstan...

The Summer House in Santorini by Samantha Parks #Review @samanthajgale @HarperImpulse @rararesources


I was delighted to be invited to take part in the blog tour for Samantha Parks' The Summer House in Santorini. Full of sunshine and romance, it is perfect as a summer read. 
One summer in Greece will change everything…


Anna’s running away. From a failed relationship, a dead-end career and a complicated family life.


On the island of Santorini, with its picturesque villas, blue-tiled roofs, and the turquoise waters of the Aegean lapping at the white sand beaches, Anna inherits a less-than-picturesque summer house from her estranged father. As she rebuilds the house, she rebuilds her life, uncovering family secrets along the way that change everything. She starts to fall for her little slice of paradise, as well as for gorgeous, charming Nikos.



Will Anna lose her heart in more ways than one?


My Thoughts

This is one of those stories which leaves you with a warm, hopeful feeling. Anna's flight to Santorini, from a life in New York which she feels dissatisfied with, is the catalyst for her to re-evaluate what is important in her life. What she finds in Santorini is a family she barely knows and a different view on her parents and her past life.  She also finds friends who measure their lives by a different yardstick to the people she knows in New York.

    The beauty of the setting and the Summer sunshine leaves us with a stunning picture of life in Santorini. You can visualise the Summer House and imagine it as Anna sets about renovating it. It is great to follow how her thoughts develop. Her vocation as a photographer is embedded within the story as she captures its colour and sights. This is a perfect holiday read, full of the enjoyment of being in a different culture and suffused with the culture and customs of Greece.

In short: A story which sizzles in the Greek Sunshine.

    

About the Author



 Samantha Parks is the pen name of Sam Gale. Her pen name comes from her late grandmother Velma Hobbs nee Parks, who was one of Sam's greatest role models. Sam was born in North Carolina but now resides in Bournemouth, UK with her husband Alex. She owns a successful marketing company and is enjoying her slow descent into "crazy plant lady" status.

You can follow Samantha here: Twitter  |  Instagram   |  Facebook 
                                                |  Website / Blog

Book links:  Amazon UK   |  Amazon US

Thanks to Samantha Parks and Rachel of Rachel's Random Resources for a copy of the book and a place on the tour.  


                                                  Catch up with the rest of the tour!


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