Skip to main content

Featured

The Hotel by the Sea by Julie Caplin #Review #Book13RomanticEscapes

Today I am delighted to be featuring the thirteenth in Julie Caplin's Romantic Escapes series : The Hotel By The Sea.  It is  published today by One More Chapter  on April 23rd.    Pack your bags and get ready to fall in love with The Hotel by the Sea—your next romantic getaway awaits! Rebecca needs to escape. After making a complete fool of herself watching the man she's secretly loved for years run off with someone else—she jumps at a temporary job at the family-run Quinta do Mar hotel. Sun, sea, and a fresh start sound perfect. What she doesn't expect is Felipe Rebelo. Charming, infuriatingly confident, and always ready with a flirty quip, Felipe seems to have life sorted. But beneath his carefree exterior lies a man carrying the weight of his entire family. The last thing he needs is another responsibility. Especially one who challenges him at every turn, makes him laugh, and is dangerously easy to fall for… Escape to Portugal's stunning Algarve c...

Saving Starlight Hall by Debbie Viggiano #Review

 

The second in the Starlight Series by Debbie Viggiano, Saving Starlight Hall, was published by Unicorn Publishing on 3rd November 2025. You can read my review of Starting Over at Starlight Cottage here.

 
Nestled deep in the countryside lies Starlight Croft – population small, gossip levels high, and secrets harder to hide than a cow in a phone box.

Jen Armstrong thought she had life more or less under control – marriage ticking along, teenagers on the right side of the law – until hubby Peter unexpectedly demises leaving Jen suddenly single, hugging a secret, and trying very hard not to fall apart in front of the entire village.

Just when things couldn’t get messier a For Sale sign appears. The community centre – the only place big enough to host Pilates and the local psychic’s séance nights – goes up for sale.

Cue The Starlight Society: a mismatched crew of locals with hearts of gold, questionable strategies and Jen reluctantly roped in to assist. Their mission? Raise the cash to save the hall before a charming-but-infuriating property developer named Liam Lancaster possibly turns it into a boutique hotel with mood lighting and tufty towels.

Can they pull it off? Will the hall survive? Might a secret be unwittingly revealed? And can Jen resist throttling an enemy who has the most annoyingly twinkly eyes?

A feel-good romantic comedy where love, lies, and livestock collide.

My Thoughts

The  most enjoyable part of this story has to be the characters who live round about Starlight Croft. They form quite a community and add to the +depth of the story and the feeling of friendship and hope. Jen is living in a fairly huge house within the village and as the story evolves you get to find out quite a lot about her marriage and the life she has been living. Her husband has recently died and as you discover, her feelings about this are ambivalent. What she does appreciate is the community in the village and the new friends she begins to make.

    There are some surprises within the story, especially at the end which I was not expecting. The village struggle to save the local village hall from re-development consumes the villagers but also provides some amusing moments. Liam Lancaster arrives in the village keen to take over the building. Jen feels torn between their growing friendship and his building plans. There is plenty to entertain in this novel which will leave you with a warm, uplifting feeling.

In short: love, friendship and community 

About the Author


 

 

Prior to turning her attention to writing, Debbie Viggiano was, for more years than she cares to remember, a legal secretary. She lives with her Italian husband and a rescued pooch from Crete. Occasionally her adult children return home bringing her much joy... apart from when they want to raid the fridge or eat her secret stash of chocolate. Tweet @DebbieViggiano or follow her on Facebook!

You can follow Debbie here: Twitter  |  Facebook  |  Instagram                                                     |  Website 

Book links: Amazon UK  |  Amazon US

 

Thanks to Debbie Viggiano, Unicorn Publishing and Rachel of Rachel's Random Resources for a copy of the book and a place on the tour.

Check out these great bloggers!

 


 



 

 

 

Comments

Popular Posts