Another blog tour post from me, today, introducing The Pop-Up Cake Shop by Rosie Green!
The Blurb
Ellie is planning to bring Little Duck Pond Café cakes to the surrounding villages with her Travelling Cake Van! But as she’s ‘expecting’ to make a rather more personal delivery of her own very soon, will Katja be the one to get behind the wheel of this fabulously mouth-watering journey into the countryside?
I’ll admit to not having read any of the other Little Duck Pond Cafe books, but after reading this one, I think I will be visiting again soon, to catch up! The Pop-Up Cake Shop can be easily read as a standalone. I loved this story which centred around Katya, a woman who finds herself single, after discovering that her partner is not the faithful man she believed. Ellie, her heavily pregnant boss and friend, brings her aboard on a new venture, a travelling cake van, where customers can buy lovely fresh cakes at reduced prices, to stop wastage from some of the local food businesses. Along the way, she meets some interesting people including several new singletons, and they form a little group. An early encounter with a stubborn bulldozer driver, Ivan, and his foreman boss, Caleb turns into something more, as the weeks pass by, and the visits to the surrounding villages become regular. I enjoyed meeting lots of characters who I suspect, if I go back to the beginning of the series, I would learn a lot about, but I was especially glad that Katya got the ending she deserved!
Purchase Links
About The Author
Author Bio – Rosie’s series of novellas is centred around life in a country village cafe. Look out for DAYDREAMS & DOUGHNUT CAKE, out in June 2025, and TEACAKES AND TANGOS, which will be published in August 2025!
I am delighted to be on the blog tour for Jaimie Admnas Finding Love at the Magical Curiosity Shop by Jaimie Admans!
The Blurb
Mickey Teasdale loves her quaint curiosity shop, where every item feels magical to her. She loves imagining the past owners of her knick-knacks and telling her made-up tales to customers, but lately, the magic has dimmed; the shop feels cluttered, and even her stories seem as worn as the items she sells.
Everything changes when the grumpiest customer Mickey’s ever met—single dad Ren Montague—walks in with his surly teen daughter, Ava. Ren hates mess and clutter and prefers order and calm, but he’ll do anything to see Ava smile. Yet, something shifts in him when he meets Mickey, who seems like she stepped out of her very own fairy tale.
When Ava discovers a secret diary, hidden from years long ago, she and Mickey believe it must have once belonged to a real-life mermaid! Ever sceptical, Ren tries to protect Ava from disappointment, but as they unravel the mystery together, something special happens…
Ren learns that happy ever afters still exist if you’re brave enough to look for them, and Mickey discovers that real-life can sometimes be way more magical than anything she could have ever imagined.
I loved this story of Mickey Teasdale, who owns a shop selling curiosities on the wonderfully named Ever After Street. She’s determined to match her wonderfully odd collection of stock with the right person, and she always has a story behind each item, whether truth or fiction. Teenager Ava tumbles into her shop one day, followed by her father, Ren. An initial clash of personalities gives way to a friendship and the possibility of something more, especially as they discover a secret in one item that Mickey sells to Ren. A possible real diary of a mermaid piques their curiosity, as one person is desperate for it to be true, and the other is determined to disprove any thoughts of sea people being real. And the third, well, she’s just excited to be there for the ride! I loved that we met all three characters right from the beginning, and it was wonderful to read how their relationships developed, with all the ups and downs accompanying two damaged souls. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and then I realised it was a part of a series. This did not detract from my enjoyment of the book whatsoever. Many thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for an ARC.
About the Author
Jaimie Admans is the bestselling author of several romantic comedies – including The Little Christmas Shop on Nutcracker Lane and The Chateau of Happily-Ever-Afters. Her series for Boldwood, The Ever After Street Series, is based on the magical world of fairytales.
Today, I am thrilled to be on the blog tour for Eva Glyn’s The Santorini Writing Retreat.
The Blurb
Bestselling author Jessica Rose needs to escape from a terrible secret that’s robbed her of her creativity. Could leading a retreat on a gorgeous Greek island be just what she needs?
Coming home to Santorini was never in Zina’s plans, but now she’s determined to make her new business a success.
And then there’s Karmela, who just wants to write her book and make her mother proud.
In the heat of their Greek island paradise, these new friends find the courage to shape their own stories, and write endings they can all be proud of…
Having read the Dubrovnik Book Club last year, I was thrilled to read this book by Eva Glyn. And the added plus for me was that one character was someone I had met before! Set in Santorini, we meet Zina and Lambros, a young married couple who have shifted back to Zina’s family farm, away from Athens, to support her widowed mother and give Lambros a chance to balance his wellbeing and mental health. He busies himself with building the farm back to what it used to be, and Zina creates a luxurious space where retreats can be held. Her first is one for writers, hosted by a famous author who writes under a pen name and several unpublished writers looking to be tutored and guided by this person. A colourful group of people congregate for a month-long retreat, including Karmela, whom we met in a previous book. There are secrets, love stories, relationship difficulties, and much more tackled within the story, all set in a beautiful rural part of a country well-known for its tourism attraction beauty. I enjoyed this read and was fully invested in the story, wanting to know what would happen to all the characters at the end! Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins One More Chapter for an ARC.
About the Author
Eva Glyn writes escapist relationship-driven fiction with a kernel of truth at its heart. She loves to travel and finds inspiration in beautiful places and the stories they hide.
Set mainly in Croatia, her contemporary stories are more about friendship than romance, the coming together of people through shared interests, and the opportunity to make fresh starts in their lives. Her latest book, The Santorini Writing Retreat, is her first set in Greece.
In addition Eva has written two Second World War dual timeline romances, An Island of Secrets and The Collaborator’s Daughter. All her books are published by One More Chapter, a division of Harper Collins.
Although she considers herself Welsh, Eva lives in Cornwall with the man she met and fell in love with more than thirty years ago. She also writes as Jane Cable.
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I’m on a fab blog tour, this time for the brilliant Dean Koontz!
The Blurb
When hometown horrors come back to haunt, true friendship provides salvation in a novel about childhood fears and buried secrets by #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense Dean Koontz.
As teenagers in the idyllic town of Maple Grove, social outcasts Rebecca, Bobby, Spencer and Ernie become inseparable friends in response to the grim reality of their day-to-day lives.
Growing up, the ‘Four Amigos’ are there for each other no matter what, until three of them leave Maple Grove to pursue lofty
dreams, leaving Ernie behind. Even when Rebecca, Bobby and Spencer achieve stratospheric success in their chosen fields, they remain as loyal to one another as ever, and to dear Ernie, still in Maple Grove.
Years later, when Ernie falls into a coma, his three amigos feel an urgent need to return home. They have the strangest feeling that they remember people lapsing into comas before. And those people always woke up … didn’t they?
Returning after two decades, they find that not a lot has changed in Maple Grove, especially Ernie’s obnoxious, scary mother.
But Rebecca, Bobby and Spencer begin to remember things – a hulking, murderous figure and other weird and disturbing memories that they were somehow made to forget. As Ernie sinks deeper into darkness, something strange and deadly awaits any friend who tries to save him.
For Rebecca, Bobby, and Spencer, time is running out to remember the terrors of the past in this perfect town where nothing is what it seems.
For Maple Grove, it’s a chance to have the Four Amigos back in its grasp.
Okay, now what did I just read? I’ve read a few Dean Koontz books over the last few years, and every time, he flummoxes me and trips me up. I think I’m not going on that crazy journey again, and he draws me in with another story filled with strangeness! This time the story revolves around the four amigos: Rebecca, Bobby, Spencer and Ernie. Having grown up in Maple Grove as a group of misfits or nerds, three of them leave town to find their fortunes, but the news of their fourth amigo, Ernie, being in a coma, brings them back to the place they have avoided for many years. There’s something strange in the town. They knew it. They just didn’t exactly know what.And, did they really want to find out? I’m not even going to try and describe the story… But it is filled with the weirdest, strangest happenings, and as the story gained momentum, I sped through it!
About the Author
The author of over 120 novels, Dean Koontz is published in 38 countries, and has sold an incredible 500 million copies to date. His masterful suspense thrillers which blend science fiction, horror, crime and comedy have earned him worldwide acclaim – and 14 hardback #1 NYT bestsellers – and have inspired countless younger novelists.
Dean won an Atlantic Monthly fiction competition when he was a senior in college, and has been writing ever since. Fourteen of his novels have risen to number one on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list (One Door Away From Heaven, From the Corner of His Eye, Midnight, Cold Fire, The Bad Place, Hideaway, Dragon Tears, Intensity, Sole Survivor, The Husband, Odd Hours, Relentless, What the Night Knows, and 77 Shadow Street), making him one of only a dozen writers ever to have achieved that milestone. Sixteen of his books have risen to the number one position in paperback. His books have also been major bestsellers in countries as diverse as Japan and Sweden. Many of his books have been made into films.
Dean lives in Southern California with Gerda and their golden retriever, Elsa. Dean and Gerda share a deep love of dogs.
The New York Times has called his writing “psychologically complex, masterly and satisfying.”
‘Dean Koontz writes page-turners, middle-of-the-night-sneak-up-behind-you suspense thrillers. He touches our hearts and tingles our spines.’
The Washington Post
‘A modern Swift … a master satirist.’
Entertainment Weekly
‘Koontz has a knack for making the bizarre and uncanny seem as commonplace as a sunrise. Bottom line: the Dean of Suspense.”
People magazine
‘A superb plotter and wordsmith. He chronicles the hopes and fears of our time in broad strokes and fine detail, using popular fiction to explore the human condition [and] demonstrating that the real horror of life is found not in monsters, but within the human psyche.’
USA Today
‘Demanding much of itself, Koontz’s style bleaches out cliches while showing a genius for details. He leaves his competitors buried in the dust.’
Kirkus Reviews
‘Koontz has always had near-Dickensian powers of description, and an ability to yank us from one page to the next that few novelists can match.’
I’m delighted to be on the blog tour for fellow RNA member, Victoria Springfield’s new release, One Summer in Italy.
The Blurb
A return to Venice. A friendship rekindled. A time for romance.
Natalie’s landed the opportunity of a lifetime hosting television show ‘Luxe Life Swap’, but she’s dreading going back to Venice, scene of the school trip that changed her life. The beauty of the floating city and handsome watch restorer Eraldo begin to win her over, however. But then glamorous contestant Cate arrives, the girl who was once plain, ordinary Cathy – the ex-best friend Natalie blames for the night that wrecked her life.
Cate’s swapping The Old Vicarage for two weeks in a Venetian palazzo, hoping she might pluck up the courage to go on the quest she’s been putting off for more than twenty years. Forced to spend time with Natalie, Cate hopes to rebuild their friendship – until Natalie makes a shocking accusation against Cate’s husband. Cate needs to find out the truth but how can she expect Phil to be honest when she’s keeping secrets of her own?
If you want a book to pull you to visit Venice, then you might need to read this! Natalie works as a TV freelancer and is asked to present a programme in Venice. Sounds amazing. But she will have to step into the shoes of a famous presenter, which is no mean feat. And Venice… well, that’s another story. Nat has to face some pretty big demons to accept the job. But none bigger than what she finds out when she realises who she will be spending time with. Cate and Phil are a well-to-do couple, with Phil owning a prestigious furniture business, and Cate living a fantastic life. They’ve been approached to be one couple on a house swap programme with a difference, both couples live lives of luxury, including where and how they live. They both have secrets linked to Venice that neither of them has ever discussed with the other. What a brilliant story! The way we are led into these secrets, some darker than others, is done so well, and how they entwine with one another intricately keeps us reading. Well, it kept me reading! Beautiful descriptions of the various parts of Venice, both the tourist spots and those lesser-known areas. Food is spoken about so much, I’d want to reach out for some, but I wasn’t there! There is romance, both new and rekindled, and mysteries solved, as well as friendships renewed. I read this within a day and loved it! Many thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for an ARC.
Victoria Springfield writes contemporary ‘wish you were here’ evocative women’s fiction set in Italy. Her feel-good books follow unforgettable characters of all ages as they deal with love, loss, friendship and family secrets. Readers can feel the sunshine!
