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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...
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The Start of the Story by Jane Lovering #Review

 

We are back to the Yorkshire Moors for an uplifting story from Jane Lovering. The Start of the Story was published by Boldwood on September 17th.

 
Rowan Thorpe can be forgiven for living with one foot in the past.

Since having to say goodbye far too young to the future she had planned, moving on still feels a daunting task. So, when historian Connor O’Keefe strides purposefully into her office and life, looking far too handsome for his own good and threatening to undermine the local legends she holds close to her heart, she is more than a little unsettled.

Connor has a past too, and his own reasons to keep his heart under wraps. But when a combination of fate and an unexpected snowstorm mean that Rowan and Connor have all the time in the world to swap stories, it may finally be time for an end and a new beginning.


 My Thoughts

This is a story with real bite. Rowan is living a semi-reclusive life in her cottage up on the Yorkshire Moors. Her work in academia researching folklore puts her apart from history approaches, based as it is on oral traditions rather than written evidenced facts. A visiting historian, Connor, is researching possible roman links on the moors. This brings him into  confrontation with Rowan, When they end up sharing her cottage, Rowan's life gets very complicated. 

    As the story develops you learn more about both Rowan and Connor's pasts and previous relationships. There is a lot of sadness in Rowan's life which takes Connor by surprise but which shows his empathy. The mystery of a stone slab up on the moors is a source of conflict between them. When you find out the actual reason for its existence, it is quite a shock. This story does draw you in and is a rewarding read. 

In short: new beginnings which are hard won.

About the Author

 


Jane Lovering is the bestselling and award-winning romantic comedy writer who won the RNA Contemporary Romantic Novel Award in 2023 with A Cottage Full of Secrets. She lives in Yorkshire and has a cat and a bonkers terrier, as well as five children who have now left home.

 

You can follow Jane here:  Twitter  | Facebook |  Website   |  Bookbub  |  Newsletter Sign up

 Purchase links 

Thanks to Jane Lovering, Boldwood Books and Rachel of Rachel's Random Resources for a copy of the book and a place on the tour. 

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