But I Smile Anyway…

The first month of school! I had plenty to keep me busy, so what time did I have for reading?

Well, I can tell you honestly that I started the month with NO ARCS on my list! That is a little less pressure since it is the beginning of the school year.

By the end… There were a couple or more, but no pressure to read… though I did! And I created my own little Series reading challenge, too, which I completed before the 10th September! (Fiona Leitch will be a guest on Book & a Brew with Ritu, soon, too!

15 books read, as well as being unwell, and battling schoo stuff, too… not bad, eh!

The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An engaging story about two people who end up sharing a bed in a flat at different times, but they somehow build a friendship through post-it note messages until, eventually, they meet.
I enjoyed this story,and it dealt with some important issues around emotional abuse within relationships, as well as giving people a chance.
How the two POVs were written helped mould the readers’ understanding of the two main characters.

The Cornish Wedding Murder: Book 1 by Fiona Leitch
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have wanted to read this series for a while and finally started book one, The Cornish Wedding Murder, yesterday.
And what can I say?
I LOVED it!
Jodie (Nosey) Parker is an ex-police officer. She moves back to her old home town in Cornwall with her daughter, Daisy, after one too many close calls working in the London Met makes her give up for her daughter’s sake.
A relatively unassuming, risk-free job as a caterer takes a turn for the murderous. Jodie cannot stop her instincts and get involved in the investigation, not least because she knows the people involved.
Jodie battles with herself internally, as she knows she shouldn’t be getting involved, and outwardly, with the Detective Inspector assigned to the case, who also happens to be rather handsome and insists upon coming to different conclusions from her.
I loved meeting all the different characters and look forward to learning more as I read the rest of the series. (Yes, I enjoyed it so much that I already downloaded the rest!)
This cozy mystery has twists and turns, humour and that dash of romance to keep readers hooked.
Roll on, book 2!

The Cornish Village Murder by Fiona Leitch
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I enjoyed the first book so much that I got straight on to the second and was glad I did.
Back in the world of Nosey Parker, aka Jodie, the ex-police officer turned caterer who can’t keep her nose out of local crimes and mysteries.
This time, as she innocently caters at a local event, she catches the eye of the celebrity guest at the (not) fete, artist Duncan Stovall.
But he is married. And his wife is there.
An altercation at the event, followed by the suspicious death of another of the event’s guests, means Jodie and her instincts are piqued.
She is joined by the crew we met in the first book, including her daughter, Daisy, and mother, as well as her best friend, Tony, and the rather dishy DCI, Nathan.
A whole host of will they/won’t they with more than one coupling and plenty of twists and turns as Jodie assists Nathan on another befuddling mystery.
I loved every minute of it, and I can’t wait to dive into the third one now!

The Perfect Cornish Murder by Fiona Leitch
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have loved the Nosey Parker Mystery series!
I read this in one day, on my birthday, and loved it!
We are with Jodie Parker, again, and this time, she ends up embroiled in an investigation on a movie set, where filming is taking place.
There are the twists of the actual mystery, as well as a romantic will-they/won’t-they situation, too.
Love, love love it!
I hopped straight onto Book 4!

A Cornish Christmas Murder by Fiona Leitch
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Well, I thoroughly enjoyed that festive addition to the Nosey Parker series!
Jodie Parker is off to cater a special Christmas party for some children at a fancy stately home. A perfectly innocent event. There should be nothing untoward happening. She goes with her mother, daughter and friend, who have been roped in to help.
The weather takes a turn for the wintery worst, and they have to stay over, along with others who are stuck.
A little inconvenient, but nothing too bad.
Until they wake in the morning and find one of the guests dead… in a rather compromising situation.
It’s winter. They are snowed in. The Police are having trouble getting there. Who else will step in and begin investigations, though she really ought not to get involved?
Well, you know who it will be. Our Jodie, who can’t seem to shake the detective out of her!
I loved it. It’s another tale filled with twists and turns, giving you hints but not letting you figure out the true series of events until the end!
Fantastic!

A Cornish Recipe for Murder by Fiona Leitch
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another wonderful addition to the Nosey Parker series by Fiona Leitch!
I do love a bit of GBBO, and this time, we are taken to a similar style of reality baking competition, where, surprise, surprise, the lovely Jodie Parker has been selected as a contestant.
She is loved up with DCI Nathan Withers, the catering business is doing well, and she seems to have kept her nose out of any extra-curricular police work so far.
But you know that isn’t going to last that long!
There are a few characters on set, from some of her fellow contestants to the drag queen presenter of the show, and after noticing friction (she can’t help it. It’s in her blood…) one evening, she begins to put two and two together, when a body is discovered, connected to the production team.
Cogs begin whirring, and she ends up helping out her boyfriend and trying her hardest to juggle the requirements of the competition.
This was a great story, filled with the twists and turns I have come to expect in the Nosey Parker books, and the cast of characters feels like part of my own family now, so it is wonderful to revisit them all!
Great read!

A Cornish Seaside Murder by Fiona Leitch
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I can’t believe I have finished the series! (Or at least what is available to read! Thank goodness there is another one to get excited about next year…)
Our Nosey Parker, Jodie, is now officially a part of the Police force, albeit in an ad-hoc position, so she doesn’t feel so bad, sticking her nose into the investigations her now firm partner, DCI Nathan Withers, is involved in.
She’s still going strong with her catering business, which is going from strength to strength; however, in this book, we really feel her feeling the stretch of her time and capabilities: Police duty, work commitments, as well as being there for Daisy, her teenage daughter, her mother, and her dog, let alone keeping a relationship afloat.
The community are readying themselves for the annual mermaid festival, and as Jodie waddles around in a particularly unflattering siren mermaid costume, another murder is brought to their attention. Of course, being part of the official investigations eats away at her time for everything else in her life. Still, she tries to balance all the calls on her attention, helping to solve the mystery as well.
This book in the series felt a little more serious, given the dilemmas Jodie found herself in, but that didn’t detract from the read at all.
Another brilliantly thrilling story.

The Fk It! List by Melanie Cantor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this very much with an interesting storyline that kept you guessing, made you think you knew what would happen, and ended with a different but still pleasant note.
Daisy Settle is celebrating her 40th birthday at a huge party thrown by her partner. All is well in her life. Business is fantastic, she’s in a secure relationship, they have great financial prospects, and it’s finally time to start trying for that baby…
But apart from her business, a rather unpleasant surprise gift leaves her with none of the above.
She is a woman who has a dream: becoming a mother. And through her grief, she wades through her options after making a Fk It! list, and with the support of her friends and some of her family, she embarks upon a journey to become a solo parent.
IVF, anonymous sperm donors, trawling sites and clinics to find the right one… We are with her for it all.
Along with an interesting friendship that starts so negatively but ends up being something she will cherish forever.
Daisy is that midlife character we women of a certain age need to read about. Life doesn’t stop once you hit a certain number. Opportunities still come knocking, and dreams most definitely can still come true.
Loved it from start to finish! I only wish I didn’t have work as I read it because I could have read it quicker!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK for an ARC.

Releasing 1st February, 2024

The Happiest Ever After by Milly Johnson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a beautiful book by fabulous author Milly Johnson.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to reinvent yourself, especially when things go wrong?
Polly Potter is not in the best place. Stuck in a job filled with misogynistic management, a relationship where she is not appreciated and feeling unfulfilled in general, she has a plan to get out.
Then something else happens. A twist of fate, which means she can live the life of Serena, who is essentially a character she was writing about in her creative writing group previously,
I shan’t go into too much detail, but I was rooting for Polly throughout, gasping in shock at a particular moment which became the catalyst for her change, and then rooting for Serena, too!
Romance? Yes, both failed and new chances.
There are plenty of obstacles to overcome and a great cast of characters.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an ARC.

Releasing 20th March 2024

Maya’s Laws of Love by Alina Khawaja
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Maya is about to get married. She’s not had the best of luck in life. She attributes every bit of misfortune to a curse she is convinced was put on her as a child.
She’s off to Pakistan, alone, to meet the rest of her family and fiance, who are already there, waiting for her arrival so they can start the celebrations.
What could go wrong? All she has to do is get there…
The thing is, no one can account for who you end up sitting next to. And who ever knows what the weather is going to do?
A fourteen-hour plane trip, followed by a planned seventeen-hour bus ride to her destination, takes nearly ten days, and she finds herself with an unlikely travel companion.
Throughout the book, we are invited to learn about Maya’s Laws of Love… She’s had things tough, and it feels like every turn of her life, especially in the romantic sense, is tainted. But no one knows what the future holds.
This was a fantastic Desi Fiction book, with characters from a Pakistani Muslim background and well-defined East/West cultural clashes. Wanting to fit in, but knowing there were certain things you couldn’t do or say as a Pakistani woman, albeit one brought up in Canada. Maya was torn throughout the book, but Khawaja portrayed her well as a young woman with dilemmas she needed to face.
As she mentions in the Author’s notes at the beginning of this book, the story is not halal… This equates to not a clean romance. There are some slightly risque scenes, but nothing that would hit a spice factor on the ratings. But this shows the consideration of Khawaja in her honesty. After all, a woman is a woman, and regardless of religion or culture, we all have base feelings and desires. This story embraces the dilemmas Maya has to work through. However, some readers of the Islamic persuasion would rather not read books with anything considered ‘haram’.
I loved reading this story. It is good to have characters and cultures I can relate to. I may not be Muslim, but I have grown up with close Muslim friends, and some South Asian traditions span most cultures regardless of religion.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an ARC.

Releasing 28th March, 2024

Mr Make Believe by Beezy Marsh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This has been sitting on my Kindle for a while, and I finally decided to read it. It is a story of jaded relationships, feeling underappreciated, and dreaming of an alternative life, which isn’t always what it’s made to look like.
Marnie is a SAHM with a part-time reporting job. It’s a far cry from her pre-mummy day job as a full-time reporter. Right now, she is writing nothing of substance, and even that, she can’t seem to get right. And her husband is slowly slipping away. She’s put on weight, hasn’t got time to look after herself and feels like a pile of the proverbial. Then she finds out he’s been playing away…
The story ensues, with her making a stand in her own way, and what happens fulfils some fantasies, but, are fantasies always as good as we thought they’d be?
It was an easy read, but POVs did jump a bit, meaning I had to keep checking who I was reading about!

Take Me Home by Beth Moran
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this story of a woman at a crossroads in her life. Filled with her own grief, Sophie Potter has made a career of helping others clear the lives and memories of lost loved ones, but she can still not process her own loss.
A slightly different job arises, meaning a lovely place to stay and a chance to centre herself again, but she doesn’t expect to find all that she does when she arrives at Riverbend.
What a wonderful story, filled with sadness, love, friendship, and dogs!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for an ARC.

Releasing 13th October, 2023

Snow Days With You by Leonie Mack
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I feel like I have been on my little winter escape, reading this despite never having been a skier!
Luna is on a journey of discovery. After a mystery windfall, she is determined to find out why a stranger left her a large sum of money before spending it. She ends up in Chamonix, and her trip starts with drama as she runs out of petrol. A chance meeting with a gendarme who leaves his mark on her after that short encounter seems to pave the way for a trip willed with many revelations, including her learning many secrets about her mother and father and the fact that she can ski, given a chance!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for an ARC.

Releasing 20th October, 2023

The Christmas Book Club by Sarah Morgan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another heartwarming tale by Christmas feel-good story queen Sarah Morgan!
When three friends end up at a tine country inn for their usual summer book club week, in the run-up to Christmas, none of them are prepared for the revelations that hit them one after another. And the same goes for the owner, too.
Erica, Claudia and Anna have been friends for a long time, and though life commitments mean they can’t be together all the time, they always make time for their annual meet-up. This time it was delayed, and they ended up meeting at Christmas.
Erica is a successful career woman who has learned to live independently. She doesn’t need anyone to help her live. Her friends are there for her and are the people she chooses to let into her life.
Anna is happily married and a mother to two teens, who are almost ready for college. Empty nest syndrome is hitting hard.
Claudia is floundering after a terrible breakup. She’s the reason their summer meet ends up in the winter.
Hattie owns the Maple Sugar Inn. She runs it alone and looks after her young daughter, having been widowed a couple of years earlier.
Life has dealt all these women interesting hands, and they are all at a point where changes are afoot. What is beautifully done in this tale of friendship and support, as well as family, is how the story unfolds, bringing all four of these women together in an irreversible way.
Everyone deserves love, and love comes in many forms. I felt that throughout this book.
Lovely read!

Releasing 26th October, 2023

Review to follow in a future Book & a Brew with Ritu Post!

But it’s ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ !

Releasing 24th October, 2023

So, tell me what you have been reading, and what caught your eye from the above!