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Maddy's Christmas Wedding by Rosie Green #LittleDuckPondCafeBook37#review

  Here we are at Book 37 in the Little Duck Pond Cafe series! Maddie's Christmas Wedding is the latest novella by Rosie Green.   With the wedding of the year approaching, excitement is running high at the café! But there's just one problem. Maddy is grappling with a secret. Could it derail all of hers and Jack's glorious plans for their big day? Will there actually be a wedding?   My Thoughts In this latest festive story, we are taken out of Sunnybrook, in fact, out of the country and taken for a wintry stay in Lapland. It is Maddy's hen party gathering so some of the Little Duck Pond characters are along too. The story continues on from the earlier Cosy Nights and Snowball Fights . The setting is idyllic and so different to life at home. Everything shimmers and shines in the snow and the temperatures are extreme. Maddy should be having the time of her life but she finds that she has a lot on her mind and a heartbreaking decision to make.     With the men le...

The House on Rockaway House by Emma Burstall #Review

Today I am happy to be featuring The House on Rockaway Beach by Emma Burstall. It was published on September 1st by Aria. 


Sisters Sophie and Celia haven't been on speaking terms for years. So it's a huge shock when they discover their grandmother has left them her quirky old house on Rockaway Beach, New York.

Just a stone's throw from the bright lights of Manhattan, they spent many idyllic summers there as children, swimming in the Atlantic ocean, playing in the sand and watching day trippers come and go. Then suddenly, the visits stopped. Sophie knows her mother and grandmother fell out, but has never found out why.

Together, the sisters return to Rockaway, and can't agree on anything. Sophie wants to keep the house, Celia's determined to sell. It seems they'll never see eye to eye, until Sophie makes a shattering discovery that forces her to question everything...

Why do she and Celia have such different memories of their grandmother? What caused the rift with their mother? Can Sophie trust the handsome stranger who seems to take such an interest in her? And who is the mysterious old woman watching them from afar?


 My Thoughts

This is a gentle, captivating read about two sisters and how the past has impacted on their lives.  It is clear from early on that Celia and Sophie have a difficult relationship and live quite separate lives. At first, it appears that they have quite different values but as the story evolves, you come to understand the two women more, and can see that Celia, in particular, has many vulnerabilities and self-destructive behaviours.

    The setting in Rockaway Beach is always present in the story, especially the beach and the coastline. You can totally understand why Sophie loves the area so much. All the characters who Sophie and Celia meet add something to the story. There is also a sense that people from the past have something to say and that secrets from the past which have been so destructive, cannot stay hidden for ever and will emerge into the daylight. This is an enjoyable story with complicated central characters and a gorgeous setting.

In short: Secrets from the past are uncovered

About the Author


Emma Burstall was a newspaper journalist in Devon and Cornwall before becoming a full time author. Tremarnock, the first novel in her series set in a delightful Cornish village, was published in 2015 and became a top-ten bestseller.

You can follow Emma here: Twitter

Aria links: Website  |  Twitter   |  Fiction   |  Instagram
 
Head of Zeus: Instagram  ||  Twitter |  Website  |  Facebook
 
Book links: Amazon UK   |  Waterstones

Thanks to Emma Burstall, Aria and Head of Zeus and Rachel of Rachel's Random Resources for a copy of the book and a place on the tour.
 
Check out the rest of the tour!
 


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