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His Last Christmas Gift by Debra Borchert #Review

    His Last Christmas Gift by Debra Borchert will take you to a different country and season. It was published by Le Vin Press on 1st November 2025. Widowed, fired, and 50, Claire is one hot mess. This later in life romance hits like a snowball packed with grief and hope and mystery and the kind of second-chance that says, “I didn’t think I’d ever feel this again, and now I’m terrified, but… Hi.” Romance that’s frost melting off a windowpane. It’s “I forgot my heart could do this.” It’s love doesn’t have an expiration date. Twinkly lights, mulled wine and flaming crêpes so immerse you in Christmas markets—you’ll book a flight to France before the fares go up. A book club fiction favourite, Claire’s journey of self-discovery is perfect for fans of women’s fiction and stories about strong women over 50 navigating reinvention with inspiration, humour, with a delicious frosting of romance. “Give yourself the gift of a lush, romantic, French adventure and be swept away ...

Clara's Secret Garden Little Duck Pond Cafe by Rosie Green #Review #LittleDuckPondBook23

 

Yes! It's time for another visit to the Little Duck Pond Cafe for another novella by Rosie Green. Clara's Secret Garden is number 23 in the series which is amazing! This is the first of  three novellas which tell Clara's story..  

 
When Clara Bowes transforms a wilderness of a garden, she isn't expecting to reconnect with someone special from her past at the same time. Having Rory Angel in her life again is a dream come true. But life is never straight forward – especially in matters of the heart – and soon, a devastating revelation looks set to bring Clara's hopes for the future crashing down around her. Will she find the strength to reach for her dreams?


 My Thoughts

 By now, Sunnybrook seems quite familiar and it is great to wonder who you are going to meet up with this time, where and when! This series also seems to be able to include new characters each time and incorporate them into the annual calendar of village life. Now we get to meet Clara and her family. She is immensely likeable and has a deep desire to keep her family together and to look after her half-brother, despite her mother's poor parenting. You feel a lot of sympathy for her and once she meets up with Rory again, you are rooting for her to find some personal happiness. However, some things do not go according to plan!

    It is always good to check in with the Little Duck Pond Cafe and I enjoyed the interludes there and hearing snippets about characters who have featured previously. As this is the first in a three- part story, there is a lot more to come for Clara and I am interested to find out what is next for her.

In short: family, friends, cakes and dancing.


About the Author

 

 

Rosie’s series of novellas is centred around life in a country village cafe. Look out for ‘A Winter Wish’, published in October, the second book in a heart-warming trilogy centred around peacemaker Clara, who’s having to cope with the demands of her slightly dysfunctional family while searching for her own happy-ever-after . . .

The third book in the trilogy is ‘Clara’s Christmas Magic’, out in November 2022.

 

You can read my review of more of this series here:

 
You can follow Rosie here:   Twitter


 
  
Thanks to Rosie Green and Rachel of Rachel's Random Resources for a copy of the book and a place on the event. 

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