Runaway Wife by Rowan Coleman

Runaway Wife by Rowan Coleman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sometimes you have to have the courage to start over…

Rose Pritchard has fled her home and her abusive husband with little more than the clothes on her back – and her most precious possession, her seven year old daughter Maddie.

But Rose does have one other thing left – a glimmer of hope that she can build a better life for herself and her daughter, whatever it takes…

Poignant story of an abused wife after years of misery decides to take her 7 year old daughter Maddie in search of a better life in the village of Millthwaite. Spurred on by a letter written to her some years ago she goes in search of its author Frasier in the hope that his kind words will be enough for her to start a new life. Once she gets to her destination its not as easy as she hoped it would be and faced with many obstacles she starts to wonder if she has made a terrible mistake.

I did look at this novel in a realist way, I wondered if I would have chased across country looking for someone who I hardly knew and risk everything taking my 7 year old daughter into an unknown future. I think if you were driven to do this it would be a last desperate act and maybe Rose was at this point but I'm not sure it was realistic enough. During her 'search' she meets her lost father and they build a relationship between them and Rose also meets Rowan her fathers' agent with whom she embarks on a romance.

This is a tale of self-discovery, romance, love, fear and friendship and how Rose and Maddie finally find themselves. It's not a fast paced novel, in parts I found it very dull and it did drag a little but it was gently and sensitively written and for that it deserves 3 stars.

I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.

War Orphans by Lizzie Lane

War Orphans by Lizzie Lane
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“If at all possible, send or take your household animals into the country in advance of an emergency. If you cannot place them in the care of neighbours, it really is kindest to have them destroyed."

Joanna Ryan’s father has gone off to war, leaving her in the care of her step-mother, a woman more concerned with having a good time than being any sort of parent to her.

But then she finds a puppy, left for dead, and Joanna’s becomes determined to save him, sharing her meagre rations with him. But, in a time of war, pets are only seen as an unnecessary burden and she is forced to hide her new friend, Harry, from her step-mother and the authorities. With bombs falling over Bristol and with the prospect of evacuation on the horizon, can they stay together and keep each other safe?


War Orphans is a nice easy read, lots of heart and tugs at the heart strings. A little girl Joanna in the midst of war is a determined little fighter, she is treated badly by her stepmother and finds her salvation in looking after a little puppy who she finds left for dead after someone cruely throws a bag full of puppies into the river to drown. She rescues Harry and is determined to help him survive. The problem is that wartime means that food is hard to come by and having Harry and feeding him is against the law so Joanna hides Harry in an abandoned shed on the allotments.

Joanna grows up during this awful wartime and makes some friends along the way and those lives she crosses have their own hardships to bear.

It was a sweet little book and I suppose it does end how it should but didn't have any surprises for me; a nice distraction read and a little glimpse into this genre but not a great novel. I give this one a 3 star rating.

I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.

Ambulance Girls by Deborah Burrows blog tour with extract

It's my stop today on the Ambulance Girls blog tour and I am bringing you an extract from the book. This is from the first chapter so it is bound to get you hooked. Look out for the other stops on the tour later this week. 

On duty during London's Blitz...
As death and destruction fall from the skies day after day in the London Blitz, Australian ambulance driver Lily Brennan confronts the horror with bravery, intelligence, common sense and humour.

Although she must rely upon her colleagues to carry out her dangerous duties, Lily begins to suspect that someone at her Ambulance Station may be giving assistance to the enemy by disclosing secret information. Then her best friend, Jewish ambulance attendant David Levy, disappears in suspicious circumstances. Aided – and sometimes hindered – by David’s school friend, a mysterious and attractive RAF pilot, Lily has to draw on all of her resources to find David, and negotiate the dangers that come from falling in love in a country far from home in a time of war…

EXTRACT from Ambulance Girls 

CHAPTER ONE



Tuesday 15 October 1940

London



Blood, warm and sticky, was trickling down my forehead. Something sharp must have nicked me as they pushed me through the narrow gap. Never mind, I was inside.

‘Hullo,’ I called out. ‘Anyone there?’

The words disappeared into the darkness as my torchlight flicked over the mess of plaster, wood and debris. In the fug of soot and dust and ash, my breathing was shallow and unsatisfying, which added to the sense of impending doom that had gripped me the moment they shoved me inside.

The trickle of blood on my forehead had become exquisitely itchy. When I lifted my gloved hand to wipe it away, the leather was harsh against my skin and felt gritty. Now my face was bloody and dirty; I probably looked like any child’s nightmare.

Whatever was I – Lily Brennan, schoolteacher from Western Australia – doing here, crawling into the ruins of a bombed house, playing the hero, when the children were most likely already dead?

But what could I do? Really, there was no choice.

I had arrived with my ambulance partner, David Levy, to find a familiar scene of devastation, bleached to aquatint by the moonlight. Piles of rubble stood in the middle of what had been a row of Victorian dwellings. They towered in gaunt ruin against the sky, between shapeless wrecks of masonry that showed the signs of a direct hit. Men’s voices, brisk and business-like, emerged from the gloom, between whistles and the occasional shout. Short flashes of torchlight appeared and vanished in the darkness, as rescue workers sought doggedly for signs of life in the ruins.

When I emerged from the ambulance, the warden had looked me up and down as if I were a prize cow at the Royal Show. As he did so, the letters on his tin helmet had stood out brightly in the moonlight: ‘ARP’. They stood for air raid precautions, and I had felt inappropriate laughter bubble up in my chest when I got a good look at him. How could this small man protect anyone from the destruction London had suffered in the past five weeks of air raids? And yet there was a quiet authority in his slow nod to me, and in the way he had then turned to throw a cryptic comment to the men standing behind him.

‘She’ll do; she’s thin enough.’

Levy, who had come to stand beside me, laughed at that, saying, ‘I think she might prefer to be described as slim.’ There had been no answering smile from the warden. Instead, he gestured at the ruins of what had been a house. ‘We’ve got two infants buried under the rubble there,’ he said. His clipped, precise voice did not at all obscure the horror of those words.

‘At least one’s alive – or was alive until a half-hour ago – because we’ve heard a baby crying. We understand they were left sheltering under a solid kitchen table before the bomb hit. Problem is, the place is just holding together. If we disturb the site too much it’ll bring the rest down on top of them. It looks like someone slim – as slim as you, miss – could squeeze through. You’d need to crawl through to the kitchen at the back, find the kids and bring them out. Think you can do that?’

Levy knew I had a horror of tightly enclosed spaces. ‘I’ll go,’ he had said. ‘I’m good at squeezing through ruins. I’ve done it before.’

‘There isn’t the room. You’d never get in.’ The warden sized me up with another quick glance and challenged me with his eyes.



Extracted from Ambulance Girls by Deborah Burrows (Ebury Press, in paperback £5.99)

I would like to thank Ebury for the opportunity to take part in this tour. 

War Orphans by Lizzie Lane Blog tour with guest post

War Orphans by Lizzie Lane (Ebury Press, £5.99)

Blurb:

If at all possible, send or take your household animals into the country in advance of an emergency. If you cannot place them in the care of neighbours, it really is kindest to have them destroyed."

Joanna Ryan’s father has gone off to war, leaving her in the care of her step-mother, a woman more concerned with having a good time than being any sort of parent to her.

But then she finds a puppy, left for dead, and Joanna’s becomes determined to save him, sharing her meagre rations with him. But, in a time of war, pets are only seen as an unnecesary burden and she is forced to hide her new friend, Harry from her step-mother and the authorities. With bombs falling over Bristol and with the prospect of evacuation on the horizon can they keep stay together and keep each other safe?

I have been very lucky to be apart of the blog tour, Lizzie has stopped by at The Book Corner with a guest post. She has shared with us her inspiration for the book. I hope you have enjoyed reading this as much as I did. 

Lizzie Lane - 

A GIRL WITH NO-ONE TO LOVE HER, AN ABANDONED PUPPY



WEBLEY BOLT GUN. Dispose of your pet quickly and humanely. Price 4/6d



This advertisement at the beginning of World War Two coincided with a Ministry of Security suggestion that if you couldn’t evacuate your pet to the country, it was an act of kindness to put it to sleep.



Their fear was that animals could be contaminated with mustard gas (as used in the First World War) or run amok when bombs began to fall. On top of that there was the food situation. Food for people had to come first and if the enemy blockaded the country (which had also happened during the First World War) there would be precious little left for dogs and cats.



As an alternative to this ‘do it yourself’ method, thousands flocked to vets and animal charities to dispose of their animals. Estimates vary and do not take into account those animals abandoned to starve, drowned or done to death by other means, but a figure of 350,000 during the first week of war is not unbelievable.



As a dog lover, I was appalled when I came across these figures. I hadn’t even realised such a thing had ever happened in a nation of animal lovers, but it most certainly did.



It was my editor at Ebury who asked that pertinent question, ‘What do you know about dogs?’



The answer was, lots!



I was writing about what I knew, but had forgotten I knew it! Astounding!



A bit of thought and the characters began to form. Against a background of animal massacre on an incredible scale, I began to write WAR ORPHANS.



The doggy character is Harry, named by Joanna, an orphan neglected by her stepmother and determined to protect the cocker spaniel puppy where she’d failed to protect her cat who had already been slaughtered.



Seb Hadley aids Joanna in her endeavours. Seb spends most of his time on his allotment, still grieving over the loss of his wife some years before. His daughter Sally is Joanna’s teacher and lacks romance in her life. It’s through Harry that she finds somebody to care for. It’s also through Harry that Seb begins at last to live again.



When writing this I thought deeply about how much animals give us and how little they demand in return; food, a warm fireside, a walk in the park. In WAR

ORPHANS Harry is one of those dogs who lifts everyone’s spirits in a dark time, being there and giving nothing but love.



I wrote about what I knew. I know dogs and perhaps because of that I have expended more emotion in this book than I have in any other. I cried a bit and I laughed a bit, just as I would have done if I had been there and it was my dog in danger.

Thanks so much for stopping by, War Orphans is out now. Don't forget to check out the other stops on Lizzie's tour. 

Secret Santa by Scarlett Bailey

Secret Santa by Scarlett Bailey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A self-confessed Christmas queen, Sue Montaigne prides herself on organising the annual nativity pageant in her small Cornish village of Poldore.

But this year, what with having to deal with the repairs on Castle House after it was wrecked by a terrible storm, training a new – and frankly flighty – Virgin Mary and managing a Joseph who is allergic to sheep, she is distinctly lacking a little bit of ‘me time’.

And then there are the auditions for the new Santa. But nothing prepares her for the beautiful man who turns up, a twinkle in his eye and a promise to make her Christmas dreams come true…

I absolutely loved 'Just for Christmas' and 'Two weddings and a baby' last year, so when I heard Scarlett Bailey was back with Secret Santa also set in Poldore, I needed to read it.

This story centres around Sue, Sue inherited a large castle in the village, that had been passed down to her by her ancestors. She has got big financial problems and some with her husband. Sue is really in the heart of the community, she decides to really throw herself into the festivities this year, things are not plain sailing for her, especially when the long running Santa pulls out this year. Sue only has a few days to try and get a new Santa in time for Christmas!

There is a new visitor in the village this year, a famous actor, who Sue has taken a shine to. (Actually I think we all did!)

Although the story is set with the run up to Christmas, there are many issues in it that you can almost be forgiven for forgetting when it is set. A major them in this novella is the break down of Sue' s marriage and the effect she feels this will have on her children. Money worries and the stress this can cause is also a big theme.

I love the mysterious Nick and how his character can really change the dynamics and feelings of the story.

I really loved this short story and has become one of my favourites I have read so far. I am so glad I discovered Scarlett Bailey last year and I hope we will be getting more instalments from Poldore in the future.

I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.

Two Weddings and a Baby - Scarlett Bailey

Two Weddings and a Baby by Scarlett Bailey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

'Tamsyn Thorne has not been back to her home town of Poldore for five long years.

But now her brother, Ruan, is about to get married and she has no excuses left.

Her plans to arrive in Cornwall looking chic and successful are dashed when a huge storm turns her from fashion goddess to a drowned rat. Worse, she ends up insulting the local hunky vicar – and then finds a tiny baby abandoned in his churchyard…'


I was so excited when I heard Scarlett Bailey was going to be releasing another book set in Poldore. I enjoyed Just for Christmas so much and Poldore, as I discovered then actually has a very special place in my heart and I was delighted to be able to be transported back to the small Cornish village.

Tasmyn lives in Paris and has worked hard to gain her position in the fashion industry. On hearing about her brother Ruan’s wedding to Alex, and her mother’s insistence she heads back to her home village of Poldore. Nothing goes smoothly for Tasmyn and little after her arrival the village is hit by a huge storm and suddenly everything looks like it is not heading in the direction that Tasmyn hoped for.

Alex and Ruan are characters that we previously met in Just for Christmas; however they are not the central characters in this story. This I feel makes it easier and still and enjoyable book if you have not previously read Just for Christmas, saying that though you must read Just for Christmas as it is such a brilliant book and I feel you would have a richer reading experience by reading that previously. It was nice to catch up on previous characters and I also enjoyed reading about Poldore in a different season.

Tasmyn I feel is not likable at the beginning of the story, however many things happen to her during her time in Poldore and this ‘softens’ her and she begins to change, your thoughts and feelings towards her also change I feel as the story progresses.

Jed is a wonderful character, one with a past and secrets that seem to emerge the more you read the story. He is not your typical vicar! Every village I feel needs a vicar who looks like Jed and he may actually be becoming one of my favourite book boyfriends!!! Of course there are also other familiar characters in the story, Buoy makes an appearance just a little older but still full of spirit.

This is a story that surprised me and to be honest from looking at the cover and reading the blub it was very unexpected, you are thrown right into all the drama from the first few pages and the pace of the story is good. This story is a lot about family but also friendship, love and how a community can come together and support each other.

I loved the fact that Scarlett has been able to include humour into what seems a dreadful situation for the community to be in and there are some wonderful one liners which have you giggling throughout the book.

I really enjoyed this book and didn’t find it predictable at all, there are moments you have no idea which way the story is going to go, even down to Ruan and Alex getting married as there are so many obstacles in their way. Scarlett’s use of description is brilliant throughout the book and once again I felt I was there in Poldore with all the characters routing for everything to be O.K. and turn out well in the end.

Once again I want to say I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would urge everyone to read it, even if you haven’t read Just for Christmas, you are going to love it, its full of surprises and not your typical summer read (due to the weather). Scarlett has done a brilliant job with Poldore and I hope there is more to come! There is certainly enough material for characters to be developed.

I would like to thank the publisher for sending me this in exchange for an honest review.

Just for Christmas - Scarlett Bailey

Just For Christmas by Scarlett Bailey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

'Her best friend's wedding...

When Alex Munro learns that the love of her life is getting married to another girl, all she wants is to be alone - and as far away from Edinburgh as possible.

Moving to a Cornish cottage, which comes complete with the world's scruffiest dog, Alex finds that her new neighbours are determined to involve her in their madcap Christmas festivities.


Then she meets her sexy neighbour Ruan - and somehow Alex doesn't want to be alone this Christmas after all. But having lost one fianc�, Ruan has no intention of letting anyone get close to him again...'



I have never read a Scarlett Bailey novel before and I am not quite sure how I have missed them! First of all I would like to say what a fabulous cover this is and it comes complete with glitter even on the spine of the book!

This story is about Alex, she lives in Scotland but is left heartbroken by her best friend who announces he is getting married and has fallen out with her dad. Mum left years ago and she doesn't have any other family, so she decides to apply for a job in Poldore, Cornwall.

Now this to me has a very personal connection, Poldore, which I quickly found out was a fictional place, however many features of the description of the place triggered my memory. My grandparents lived down in Cornwall and owned a B&B for years, I gradually discovered that Poldore was actually based on the village that my grandparents lived in. I could not believe it, and tweeted Scarlett who confirmed my suspicion! This to me then made me love the story even more as I could picture where Alex was and it bought back happy memories for me.

Anyway back to the story, Alex applied for a harbor master position in Poldore and got the job, which come along with a cottage in the village and a dog that came with the cottage ha ha! This was something Alex was not keen on, however over time in the story she came to love the dog - Bouy. This is a brilliant tale of an outsider being accepted into a village community and feeling like part of the family that the village is.

Alex moved down to Poldore in the running up to Christmas, so the book features Christmas aspects and the warmness of the villagers really get you into the Christmas spirit.

I found the book to not be a straight forward romance chick lit book, which I enjoyed as it has you guessing aspects of it and leaves a little to the imagination. This book has everything, it takes you through emotions which will have you laughing to crying. I found this an easy Christmas read which was very enjoyable. I would recommend every one to add it to their Christmas book wish list. I would like to thank the publisher for sending it to me.