Merry Christmas, from Paris with love xxx

I hope you all have an absolutely wonderful Christmas filled with friends & family, and love & laughter (and books…lots of books!)

Book Review: The Postcard, by Lily Graham

 She always said she’d find a way to let me know that death wasn’t the end …

When Ivy Everton, a children’s book illustrator, moves to Cornwall to start a new life with her husband Stuart, she gets given her mother’s old writing desk, a bittersweet token from a mother who made childhood magical. 

When she clears it, she finds that the desk holds an unexpected surprise; one she wishes, in a way, that she hadn’t found, as wedged in the corner is a blank, faded postcard addressed to her, in her mother’s hand. At first, the postcard serves only to haunt her; a constant reminder of her mother’s last message, now forever silenced, and she can’t help but wonder what unwritten secret lies unsaid. 

Yet, as the days pass mysterious inexplicable things begin to happen, odd items go missing from her studio, only to reappear, ethereally transformed in the seemingly empty desk. 

Soon Ivy realises that the postcard was never really blank, it was simply waiting … waiting for her to find it. 

Part ghost story, part magical Christmas tale, The Postcard is about a love that transcends time and space to transform and heal.

Book Review: The Mysterious Miss Mayhew, by Hazel Osmond

Tom doesn’t need any more women in his life. He already has his hands full with his five year old daughter, an estranged wife who keeps blocking his efforts to get divorced and a mother who might be having an affair with the vicar. When Fran Mayhew turns up – years younger than him and with all the tact of a dinosaur with its backside on fire – she’s just another tricky person to deal with.

And what’s she doing in his remote part of Northumberland crawling around in graveyards anyway?

But soon Tom discovers that there’s more to Miss Mayhew than meets the eye – and it’s not just his heart he’s in danger of losing.

Book Review: Love Me or Leave Me, by Claudia Carroll

‘Welcome to the Hope Street Hotel – where you check in married, and check out single.’

Two years ago Chloe Townsend was dumped at the altar and had to leave behind everything that mattered to her. Even now she’s finding it hard to move forward. That is until she lands an incredible job, running a brand new boutique hotel. Suddenly she’s starting to put her life back together, and, apart from the fact that her hard-to-please new boss is breathing down her neck, things are looking good.

But what goes on in the Hope Street Hotel is a far cry from anything she’s ever dealt with before. This is a pioneering ‘divorce hotel’ designed to make every aspect of breaking up efficient and pain-free. In one single weekend, Chloe’s team promises to take care of everything – legal, technical, emotional – and guests check out carefree and single.

No one is better qualified than Chloe to understand what couples need when their relationship is at breaking point, but she soon finds herself having to tackle the heartbreak she’s tried to bury. In particular three couples need her help – Jo and Dave, Lucy and Andrew, and Kirk and Dawn – and the opening weekend is full of revelation, trouble, memories happy and sad, facts that need facing, and some very big surprises.

It’s time to move on. And it soon becomes clear that some endings are, in fact, very exciting new beginnings…

Christmas & Penguin Themed Giveaway!

Well, it’s twelve days till Christmas, which means it simply MUST be time for a festive giveaway!

I hope all of you have an absolutely amazing Christmas, and thank you all so much for your support. I’m totally blessed for each and every one of my reader, blogger and writer friends who I’ve met in 2014. So, this giveaway gives me a chance to give one of you a gift at least – one lucky entrant will win a festive-themed bundle, (including lots of penguin items, naturally!)

You have till the end of Christmas Eve to enter – good luck 🙂

Christmas Corner Guest Post: What Christmas Means to Me, by Rebecca Raisin

Thank you for inviting me here today, Paris!

What Christmas means to me…

It’s no secret Christmas is my favourite time of year! Hence writing books centred on that time! There’s something completely magical about the season, and it’s even better celebrating it from October onwards…

Book Review: Secret Santa, by Scarlett Bailey

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…