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The Twenty Dates by Ko Porteous #Review #EmptyNesters

It is good to return to The Empty Nesters series by Ko Porteous. The Twenty Dates was published by All Ways Publishing Ltd on October 8th. You can read my review of Book 1, The Freshman Parents   here The kids have left, assuming love endures. But can yours? Book #2 in The Empty Nesters Series   Claire’s marriage is in (total!) crisis. Her husband, Mark, is distracted, presumptuous, and utterly clueless - smart scales for their 19th wedding anniversary? Really? Perhaps she'd be better off alone. At least there'd be less laundry.   When Claire suggests separating, Mark panics. He asks for one last chance: twenty dates, one for each year of their marriage, to prove they're better off together than apart. What follows is a series of adventures Claire never saw coming - some mortifying, some exhilarating, and some that make her question everything she thought she knew. About Mark. About marriage. And about the woman she's quietly become while she wasn't payin...

A Kiss Under the Stars by Rosie Green #Review #LittleDuckPondCafeBook29

 

I am delighted that it is time for another visit to the Little Duck Pond Cafe for another novella by Rosie Green. A Kiss Under The Stars is number 29 in the series!

Lottie Fanshawe has become an expert over the years at banishing dark memories of the past – but now, the time has come to sell Sycamore House, her old family home, which she walked away from a decade ago. With beloved brother Dylan now a missing person – a victim of their past – there's only Lottie left to organise the sale. Being back in Sunnybrook is the last thing she needs, and her plan is to get in and out as speedily as possible. But finding a welcome at the Little Duck Pond Cafe helps Lottie in more ways than she could have imagined. And then there are her growing feelings for dark-eyed Liam Westerbrook to grapple with . . .


 My Thoughts

I found this latest visit to Sunnybrook to be well up to standard and in some ways, it was one of my favourite of the novellas. I think this was because it felt like we were squarely back in Sunnybrook, in the Little Duck Pond Cafe and meeting many of the original inhabitants once again. Lottie is a great new central character with a difficult background and some family issues still to be resolved. There is an impulsive side to her character but she can admit when she has overreacted. Lottie is trying to move forward with positivity.

    This is a great series of novellas with a real feeling of community and friendship. Despite the fact that this is number 29, it still feels fresh and with potential for more stories. 

In short: family, friendship, romance 


About the Author

Rosie’s series of Little Duck Pond Café novellas is centred around life in a country village cafe. ‘The Lottery Win’ is out now. Look out for ‘A Cosy Cottage Escape’ with a little mystery for Hallowe’en, out in September 2023.

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

 
You can follow Rosie here:   Twitter
 
Book link: Amazon UK  |  Amazon US
  

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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