Sloantate

  Love is more than just romance, it’s family   When the world was pulling me in all directions, reading Sarah Morgan’s latest release, The Christmas Escape was the perfect escape for a few hours a night.    From the outside looking in, both Christy and Alix have different but perfect lives. Christy, with her husband Seb and young daughter Holly, a home in the country and a Christmas holiday to look forward to in Lapland. Alix, Christy’s best friend, will be joining them after a prestigious award ceremony in New York for her work. But nothing is ever perfect and when Christy asks her friend to travel alone with her daughter cracks start to appear.   Sarah Morgan captures the fears and anxiety of both woman with her dual narrative story. As Alix, Holly and Zac, the man Alix has been actively avoiding for five years, leave for Christy’s long lost aunt’s Lapland resort, she is filled with doubts, she can’t be responsible for a young, rambunctious, yet utterly adora...

  I have read evert book that Julie Caplin has published, and The Cosy Cottage in Ireland is joint top with The Little Café in Copenhagen.   There are few authors that have inspired me to change my mindset/lifestyle (read the Copenhagen book to see why) but Julie Caplin’s writing just clicks with me. I was thrilled to hear that she was writing the eighth book in the Romantic Escape series in Ireland, not only do I have family there, but I fell in love with the country and its people as child (full disclosure, my father is Irish LOL)   Hannah’s story starts off in Dublin, like many who travel to the Emerald Isle, but after an intimate encounter with a stranger, Hannah travels onto her true destination, County Kerry, and the cookery school of the famed Adrienne Byrne family.    Together with a group of misfits, Hannah is tested in many ways, not just cooking, but letting go of the need to be perfect, having fun, living, and loving.    Hannah’s nerve and ...

  An enchanting story of a French chateau and village being brought back to life.   Following the death of their grandfather, Fliss and her sisters inherit a French chateau, which could be the answers to all their prayers, The reality is that the building and grounds have seen better days, the villagers are suspicious and hostile and there is an unexpected chatelaine.    Instead of making them money, they are at risk of losing the chateau if they cannot afford to pay the associated costs by January.    Fliss must work hard to overcome the chateau’s past, but thanks to a rogue horse, Pegasus and a herd of unrepentant cattle, the local mayor, Jacques soon warms to her and what she is trying to achieve, not just bring the chateau back to life, but the village too,    Naturally, there are problems, a wayward nephew, Lothario’s, dodgy boilers and pyro mother in laws, but will the plucky Fliss get what she really wants, A man who loves her for her, that...

       A festive friend to lover’s story.   There is something to be said for the memory of your first love, it’s something to. Be look back fondly on (or not) with the rose-tinted shade of youth.   Whist as a rule I am not fond of jumping back in time, I think it was needed as a tool to show how Norah, our protagonist, became besotted with a boy she met in Italy ten years earlier and prompted a last-minute trip to Dublin to keep a promise made when they parted.   I did prefer the flashbacks of Norah and her friendship group going out on Christmas Eve, Norah’s late father hearing her sing and budding friendship with Joe.   It is Joe, who accompanies Norah to Dublin, after her mother cancels their Christmas plans at the last minute, to focus on herself. Joe was the most fascinating character in the story to me, how he behaved when they were younger, how his passion for design is allowed to show through, Their visit to Bewley’s Café in Dublin, broug...

  The Olive Grove by Eva Glyn   Completely unexpected story, exceptionally written 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟.   The Olive Grove is not my usual type of book, but something about the burb had me hooked, it might have something to do with growing up during the conflict that endeared the country to me.   Antonia is a protagonist who is very conflicted, in love with a married man, sharing her home with her adult daughter and her partner, the last straw is being belittled by her lover’s friend. Solace is found in Croatia, having taken a job as a housekeeper at an upmarket villa.    I enjoyed that the affair part of this story was minimal as I tend to steer away from such tropes, instead the focus is on Antonia’s and Damir’s friendship, the good and the bad. Damir’s experiences as a child have come back to haunt him after the death of his aunt.   The story follows both Antonia coming to grips with life in a foreign country, making friends, finding a lover, and treading car...