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The Island of Hopes and Dreams by Kate Frost #Review

  Travel to beautiful Sardinia for a summery read. The Island of Hopes and Dreams by Kate Frost was published by Boldwood Books on June 16th.   When the beginning of the end is just the start… Newly single Lola Wild has had her fill of well-intentioned matchmaking friends. Her best friend Mirabel’s hen weekend highlights all that’s wrong with Lola’s life and she knows something has to change. With Mirabel’s luxurious wedding in Sardinia fast approaching, Lola is looking forward to switching off, spending time with her friends and keeping her non-existent love life off everyone’s agenda. Meanwhile, fellow wedding guest Rhys Strickland has his own problems. So when a chance encounter brings Rhys and Lola together they decide to help each other out. To the idyllic backdrop of white sand beaches and azure bays, they bond over shared heartache, and friendship blossoms as they attempt to navigate the hurt and hard truths of past relationships. Opening up their hearts ...

Coming Home to Mistletoe Cottage by Celia Anderson #Review

 

As far as book reading is concerned, we are heading straight into festive season and here's a sparkly, Christmassy book to tempt you! Coming Home to Misteltoe Cottage by Celia Anderson was published by Harper Collins on October 27th. 


Could a sprinkling of magic save Christmas this year?

Amid the salt marshes and rolling fields of Periwinkle Bay, Magda Conway is enjoying her retirement in ivy-clad Mistletoe Cottage.

Yet with three weeks to go until Christmas, as the fairy lights twinkle and the trees go up around the village, her peace is disrupted when she’s left in sole charge of her two mischievous grandchildren.

Before long, she’s at her wit’s end – but high on a kitchen shelf lies her mother’s handwritten recipe book. And as she turns to it for advice, she finds more than just recipes between its tattered covers: there’s a pinch of magic too, and maybe even a sprinkling of love . . .

My Thoughts
This is such a refreshing look at familylife. During the story, you get to look back in the past to try to decipher the difference between how Magda lived and what she wanted for her life and also how real life has turned out for her. It does not take much to realise that the difference between how Magda's  life has turned out and the reality  is quite different. Magda strikes you as a most lonely person.
    This is a dynamic story with several layers between the different characters. I was made aware that the different generations had become  intertwined. I enjoyed how Magda's son had forged a relationship with her. For most of the story, you are unsure whether Magda is imagining the influence of her mother's recipes and the whole story is infused with a wonderful aura of love and homeliness. Can someome find love at 60? I'll leave you to decide on that but what I can say is that Magda can offer so much advice on real life and taking a chance. 
 
In short: Starting over

 
About the Author
 
Celia Anderson lives with her husband as far away from the sea as you can possibly get in mainland UK. She dreams of buying a cottage on the coast, which explains the regular appearances in her books of seaside places with wide, sandy beaches. Celia loves walking, reading, having large, bubbly baths, eating, and drinking wine. Over the years, she has found that all of these activities bar the first may be done simultaneously, although this can be messy.
 
You can follow Celia here:  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Facebook
                                           |  Links  
Book links: Amazon UK
 
Thanks to Celia Anderson and Harper Collins for a copy of the book and a place on the tour.
 
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