The Italian’s Christmas Housekeeper Sharon Kendrick

Paperback The Italian’s Christmas Housekeeper Sharon Kendrick 
Publisher Mills and Boon 
From making the billionaire’s bed 
To Christmas between his sheets 
Shy housekeeper Molly Millar always tries her best. She’s anxious to impress outrageously wealthy houseguest Salvio de Gennaro, but instead is unfairly criticized by her employer! When she’s found sobbing by Salvio, he comforts her…with the most amazing experience of her life. But when that incredible encounter costs Molly her job, Salvio rescues her with an irresistible proposition: become his temporary housekeeper—just in time for Christmas!
MY REVIEW

I do love reading about a bossy strong person. Lady Avery is a hard person to please. Housekeeper Molly Milller wanted the job in Lady Avery’s big house, as for her it was a place to live in rent free. But she has to work hard and with saying yes Lady Avery to every demand that she is given. When an Neapolitan billionaire Salvio De Gennaro is a guest, staying with Lady Avery and Lord Avery, a night of passion with the guest poor Molly is given the sack. I really liked the character Molly Miller as she was most greateful for everything. 

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STILL LIVES Maria Hummel blog tour

 

STILL LIVES BY MARIA HUMMEL

Published in hardback 15th November 2018

Publisher Quercus

Snapped up in a whirlwind acquisition, Still Lives is a hot new thriller for Quercus.

Kim Lord’s face looked back at me, disguised in paint and the features of a murdered woman.
Revered artist Kim Lord is about to unveil her most shocking show yet: Still Lives, a series of self-portraits in which she impersonates the female victims of America’s most famous homicides, from Nicole Brown Simpson to the Black Dahlia.
As celebrities and rich patrons pour into L.A.’s Rocque Museum for the opening night, the attendees wait eagerly for Kim’s arrival. All except Maggie Richter, museum editor and ex-girlfriend of Greg Shaw Ferguson, Kim’s new boyfriend. But Kim never shows up to her party and the crowd’s impatience slowly turns to unease.
When Greg is arrested on suspicion of murder, it seems that life is imitating art. Has Kim suffered the same fate as the women in her paintings? As Maggie is drawn into an investigation of her own, she uncovers dark and deadly truths that will change her forever.

Still Lives is Reese Witherspoon’s August Hello Sunshine Book Club pick.

Thank you to the publisher for inviting me to be part of the blog tour for Still Lives.

A little extract

Chapter 1

For the four years I’ve lived in Los Angeles, the Rocque Museum has been my university and my workplace, offering me a degree in contemporary art and the cosmopolitan life brilliant as the blues in Sam Francis painting, decadent as a twenty four karat cast of cat testicle. Most days pass in a pleasure blur of words and pictures. Most nights I hate to leave my little office, especially on April evenings like this, when I can look over my mess of proofs, out of the greening city, and imagine I am still happy.

About the author Maria Hummel, she is the author of Motherland, a San Francisco Chronicle Book of the year. She has worked as a writer/editor at MOCA in Los Angeles.

REVENGE AT THE ALTAR LOUISE FULLER

REVENGE AT THE ALTAR LOUISE FULLER 
Publisher Mills and Boon 
Modern 

“All you need to do is say yes.” 

Revenge comes with a ring…

Nothing gives Max Montigny more satisfaction than hearing heiress Margot Duvernay say “I do.” Rejected by her family once before, this time Max holds all the cards—to protect their champagne business, Margot agrees to be his bride! But their passionate wedding night tempts Max to forget his vengeful plans and enjoy every sensual moment of their reunion…
MY REVIEW 

Revenge at the Altar is from the modern collection. Full of power and passion.  I enjoyed reading every page. Margot Duvernay is the CEO of the legendary House of Duvernay champagne business. At the house of Duvernays headquarters in the boardroom to Margot’s surprise her ex boyfriend Max is waiting for her, with demands, power, and a proposal of his own and further more he knows Margot’s family business is in a bit of trouble. I loved the tension of fury between Margot and Max Montigny. Louise Fuller is an excellent mills and Boon author. Totally recommend buying. 

THE INNOCENT ‘S Shock PREGNANCY Carol Marinelli

The Innocent ‘s Shock Pregnancy Carol Marinelli 

Publisher Mills & Boon

MODERN

She gave him her innocence…
Now she’ll be his convenient bride!
Wherever ruthless billionaire Ethan Devereux goes, the press follow. So when he discovers the astonishing night he shared with talented actress Merida ended in pregnancy, he moves fast to contain the scandal. Suddenly Merida lands the biggest role of her career—playing the part of the loving Mrs. Devereux. But she knows the real challenge is pretending she can walk away from their electric chemistry…
MY REVIEW 

After a break from Mills and Boon, I’m back reading their books again. I took up the opportunity to order some books from Mills and Boon while they had an offer with 30% off.  One of titles I ordered was from the Modern collection,  The Innocent’s Shock Pregnancy, that I thoroughly enjoyed. What I liked was how author Carol Marinelli gave Merida some job titles. Merida worked in Fifth Avenue gallery by day, but her heart was really into acting by night. Billionaire Ethan Deveraux who is always followed press takes a visit to the gallery, Merida will be showing Ethan around the gallery. When Merida is excited to be given an acting part, something is about to end her dreams of being an actress. Highly entertaining. A must read.

DARLING BLUE TRACY REES BLOG TOUR

DARLING BLUE TRACY REES

Publisher Quercus

Published in paperback 13th November 2018

Blue lives a charmed life.
From her family’s townhouse in Richmond, she lives the life of luxury and couldn’t want for anything – well, on the surface at least.

Then on the night of her twenty-first birthday her father makes a startling toast: he will give his daughter’s hand to whichever man can capture her heart best in the form of a love letter. But Blue has other ideas and, unwilling to play at her father’s bewildering games, she sets out on her own path to find her own destiny…

MY REVIEW

Darling Blue should be made into a film.

Don’t miss this beautiful well written story. For Blue it was the most embarrassing situation at her twenty first birthday party. Her father gave a speech with a proposal for anyone who wishes to woo his daughter does so by letter. Whoever can win Blue’s heart through a letter can have her hand in marriage. And then her father proposed a toast to his daughter of her coming age. This story was a real treasure to read.

BEFORE I FIND YOU ALI KNIGHT BLOG TOUR 

 

 

BEFORE I FIND YOU ALI KNIGHT

 

 

Publisher Hodder & Stoughton

 

 

Published in Hardback 1st November 2018

 

 

Maggie is a husband watcher. A snooper, a marriage doctor, a destroyer of dreams, a killer of happy-ever-afters. She runs her own private detective agency specialising in catching out in those who cheat. And she is bloody good at it.

 

Helene is a husband catcher. A beautiful wife, a doting step-mother, a perfect home maker and a dazzling presence at parties. She has landed herself with one of the most eligible bachelors in town – handsome property developer Gabe Moreau.

 

Alice is just a teenager. A perfect daughter to Gabe, a kind stepchild to Helene, a tragic girl to a dead mother. She lives a sheltered but happy life, until she finds that handwritten note ‘You owe me. I’m not going away.’
All three women suspect Gabe Moreau of keeping secrets and telling lies. But not one of them suspects that these lies could end in cold-blooded murder.

 

 

 

MY REVIEW

 

 

Running your own private detective agency catching out those who cheat on their partner, there’s one rule about tailing a target, don’t let them ever see you. A private investigator should be invisible as air. Helene thinks her husband, Gabe Moreau is cheating on her. Maggie Malone is being paid to track down Gabe’s movement and Maggie is waiting to get the damning evidence she needs for Helene. But that’s all it takes to deliver the fatal blow to a marriage. The thing is you hire her. You trust her. You shouldn’t.  Daughter Alice wants to know more about her stepmother Helene. And Maggie a husband watcher has a secret past. This book certainly held my attention all the way through and furthermore if you like reading about the private detectives agency in catching out cheaters, then you will without doubt enjoy this this novel where a murder happens. I also recommend A true-life story The Real Lady Detective Agency by Jane Rebecca.

A Gift from Woolworths Elaine Everest blog tour

 

A Gift from Woolworths Elaine Everest

Publisher Pan Macmillan

Published in paperback 1st November 2018
In hard times, true friendship can be the greatest gift.
Will the war be over by Christmas?

As the war moves into 1945 the lives of the women of Woolworths continue. When store manager, Betty Billington, announces she is expecting Douglas’s baby her future life is about to change more than she expects.
Freda has fallen in love with the handsome Scottish engineer but will it end happily?
Maisie loves being a mother and also caring for her two nieces although she still has her own dreams. When her brother appears on the scene he brings unexpected danger to the family.

Meanwhile Sarah dreams of her husband’s return and a cottage with roses around the door but Woolworths beckons.

Will our girls sail into times of peace, or will they experience more heartache and sorrow? With a wedding on the horizon, surely only happiness lies ahead – or does it?
A Gift from Woolworths is the next installment in Elaine Everest’s much-loved Woolworths series.

MY REVIEW
This beautiful story brought back my own memories of good old Woolworths. Elaine has published a series of books about Woolworths,  The Woolworths Girls, Christmas at Woolworths, Wartime at Woolworths and now A Gift from Woolworths. I was very surprised at how long Woolworths had actually been going for until it closed and I was equally surprised that in this story the Woolworths branch in Erith in December 1945 had marks where  of crisscross sticky tape that had covered the glass to save the windows from the blast of exploding bombs. Not only does The People’s Friend recommended A Gift from Woolworths, but I do too as its definitely a feel good festive novel, with well loved characters, Betty Billington, Mais. What’s tThe Lok forward to baby news, and a wedding.  I wonder what’s next in store for author Elaine Everest. 

About the author

Elaine Everest is for from North West Kent, where she briefly worked as a Woolworths girl herself. She grew up listening to stories of the war years in her home town of Erith.