Day: June 17, 2020

Sweet Pea Summer by Ally’s Murray **Book Review** @bookouture

/ berittalksbooks / 1 Comment

Happy hump day book friends!

Damn I am such a sucker for a second chance romance! This book just gave me all the feels! I just loved it so so much!💕

My Thoughts

A charming small town second chance summertime romance. Alys Murray tugged on my heartstrings with her delightful storytelling. Nothing like a second chance romance to hit me in the feels. May and Tom were high school sweethearts with dreams of traveling the world and being together forever. The night after graduation Tom packed up his truck with all his worldly goods and May tells him she cannot join him. It is years later and Tom is back in town, but the small town is unforgiving. You see May pretty much let everyone think that Tom had left her rather than her calling things off. So when Tom and May are thrown together to plan the town’s festival everyone is quick to defend May’s honor. But the spark between Tom and May is still there, strong and undeniable. So will May be able to forgive herself and finally go after the boy she’s always loved? *sigh*

Loved every minute I spent reading this adorable story. May and Tom were just too perfect together my heart was aching for them to get back together. I loved the small town and the family dynamics in the story. I wasn’t always quite sure why everyone was so upset with Tom supposedly ending things with May when he was 18? And I really didn’t understand why May just didn’t fess up? But I’ve never lived in a small town. Such a sweet heartwarming story that made me all gooey inside. Cannot wait for the next book in this fun flowery series.

This book in emojis 🐝 🍷 🐶 🌸 🍯 ⛲️

*** Big thank you to Bookouture for my gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ***

About the Book

Can you ever really forget your first love?

It’s been eight long years since May Anderson’s high school sweetheart Tom Riley drove down Main Street in his truck, leaving Hillsboro—and May—in his rearview mirror. Now he’s back and, try as they might, the pair can’t avoid each other.

As Hillsboro prepares to host the prestigious North West Food and Wine Festival, Tom and May are reluctantly called in to plan the big event. Tom needs May’s help to repair his bad-boy reputation and, with the whole town counting on them, May and Tom need to learn to trust each other again.

May is determined to protect her heart, but a lot has changed since high school. She can’t help but notice how the skinny boy she used to know is now a man who perfectly fills out his button-down, and Tom can’t seem to tear his gaze away from May’s sweet smile. It’s clear old feelings are surfacing again, but there is a secret keeping them apart and, until they find the courage to face it, their second chance summer will be only that…

A heartwarming story about first love, family and the importance of second chances. Fans of Jenny Hale, Debbie Macomber and Robyn Carr will adore Sweet Pea Summer.  

About the Author

Alys Murray is an author who writes for the romantic in all of us. Though she graduated with a degree in Drama from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and a Master’s in Film Studies from King’s College London, her irrepressible love of romance led her to a career as an author, and she couldn’t be happier to write these stories! Currently splitting time between her home state of Louisiana and London, she enjoys kissing books, Star Wars, and creating original pie recipes for all of her books. Tobey Maguire is her Spider-Man. 
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The Little Shop in Cornwall by Helen Pollard **Book Review** @bookouture

/ berittalksbooks / 1 Comment

Happy Wednesday my friends!

I seriously wouldn’t mind sitting on the beach about now and pretending the world did not exist! Cornwall take me away!✨

My Thoughts

The seaside, crystals, and sand. This was a captivating beach read with some depth. Claudia has just escaped her bad marriage and move to this small lovely village in Cornwall. Jason is mourning the loss of his wife when he and his teenage daughter Millie head to the same small village. Claudia is in the process of opening a beach front new age store. Jason does not believe in all this New Age stuff, but his daughter Millie is intrigued. What follows is a sometimes frustrating tale of push and pull. Will they? Won’t they?

I would not necessarily classify this as enemies to lovers, but maybe annoyerss (not sure this is a word?) to lovers? I certainly was annoyed by Jason, I understood he was going through some things but wow he definitely had an angry side. I liked Claudia, but I didn’t always find her relatable. Millie was hands-down my favorite character, I thought she just was the ray of light in the story. As much as I didn’t necessarily care for Jason and Claudia as characters I thought they worked well as a couple and I was rooting for them the entire book. I really love the setting of this sweet seaside village. I also loved the little bit of witchiness in the story. All in all an entertaining story that swept me away to the beach.

This book in emojis 🏖 🐱 ✨ ☀️ 💎

*** Big thank you to Bookouture for my gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ***

About the Book

Claudia thought she knew how this summer was going to go. Turns out, she didn’t have a clue…

It’s been two years since Claudia arrived on the beautifully rugged Cornish coast with nothing but a suitcase to her name. She’d walked out on the husband who had never loved her, ditched the corporate job she’d never wanted and vowed that no gym membership card would come within ten feet of her ever again.

Swapping boardrooms and cocktails for a little shop right at the end of the beach road should have been a bit of a shock. But from the moment she first laid eyes on the empty, run-down store, Claudia knew this was where she was meant to be all along.

After all that upheaval, Claudia was looking forward to a quiet summer, full of the usual holiday makers and long walks along the clifftops. But life in her patch of paradise is about to change in more ways than one.

Enter recently widowed Jason, dragging his sullen teenage daughter Millie in tow. Millie and Claudia immediately hit it off. And while Millie loves everything about Claudia’s free-spirited way of life, practical architect Jason is less than thrilled about his daughter’s new interests. He doesn’t shy away from telling Claudia exactly what he thinks and sparks fly every time they meet.

But as circumstances throw Claudia into Jason’s path in increasingly unexpected ways, she begins to glimpse what lies beneath his fiery temper and sharp tongue. Claudia was sure her new life was perfect in every way. But was there something missing after all?

The perfect summer holiday escape, full of warmth, humour and heart. Fans of Sarah Morgan, Cathy Bramley and Phillipa Ashley will be charmed by this seaside romance.  

About the Author

As a child, Helen had a vivid imagination fuelled by her love of reading (long past her bedtime!) so she started to create her own stories in a notebook.

She still prefers fictional worlds to real life and loves infusing her writing with humour and heart.

Helen lives in Yorkshire with her husband, two grown-up (in theory) kids and a Jekyll and Hyde cat. She enjoys reading, coffee with friends and indulging her nostalgia by watching old seventies and eighties TV shows. 

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