Blog Tour | But I Smile Anyway...

The Cornish Cottage By The Sea by Kim Nash #BlogTour #BookReview #RachelsRandomResources @rararesources @BoldwoodBooks @KimTheBookworm

12 May 2025 4 Comments

by Ritu in Reviews Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blog Tour, Blogger, Blogging, Boldwood Books, Book Tour, Kim Nash, Rachel's Random Resources, review, The Cornish Cottage By The Sea

Very happy to be a part of the book tour for my friend, Kim Nash, and her newest release, The Cornish Cottage By The Sea.

The Blurb

A gorgeous, uplifting, romantic read from the author of the Cornish Cove series, Kim Nash A new start by the sea…

For Jo Jenkins, life has always been about putting others first. But with her children grown and her ex-husband as rotten as ever, she knows it’s time to put herself at the heart of the story. So, when she inherits a beautiful beachside cottage in Cornwall, she grabs the chance to start over.

The crumbling old cottage needs a little love, but so does Jo. And with the help of her new friends – a kind-hearted jeweller, a no-nonsense businesswoman, and a local Jack of all trades with a past of his own – Jo begins to rebuild more than just bricks and mortar.

But tucked away inside the cottage is a secret that could change everything. As the waves roll in and the sea air clears her mind, Jo must decide if she’s ready to let go of the past. Will she finally learn to embrace the life she truly deserves?

My Review

The Cornish Cottage by the Sea by Kim Nash
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love Kim Nash’s books. Always a focus on a slightly older FMC and second chances.
In The Cornish Cottage By The Sea, Jo Jenkins is a divorcee and mother to two grown-up daughters. She’s stagnating in her little flat, in a place that only holds sad memories, staying there in case her family wants to come ‘home’.
An inheritance she never expected leaves her as the owner of a Cornish cottage owned by her ex-husband’s aunt, which she coveted when she first. It’s a big move. The cottage is not quite what she remembered, but the place is still beautiful with idyllic surroundings and views she could stare at forever. Knowing there are members of her family who weren’t on board with the move, Jo carries on, hoping for the best, but doubting she will perform miracles.
I loved that Jo found terrific, supportive friends from the beginning, conquering her reluctance to talk to people she doesn’t know, after advice from her mum, and beginning every friendship with simple conversations.
The way she builds her new gang of ‘people’ is lovely. It gives hope that there is a way to move forward positively even when everything you lived for has changed.
Jo meets Seamus, a local handyman, through his father, and one of her new “I am brave’ conversations with strangers. He is friendly, helpful, and somewhat handsome, but Jo is so used to seeing herself as the frumpy middle-aged mother figure that she can’t believe he would be interested in her.
Her new friends help to build her self-confidence back up to where it should be, and they even form a Friday Club, which sounds like a blast, and support others around them.
A mystery that she didn’t even know she wanted to solve also presents its solution to her towards the end.
Such a wonderful story. I read it in a day!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for an ARC.

Purchase Link – https://mybook.to/CornishCottage

About The Author

Kim Nash is an author of uplifting, romantic, feel-good fiction, having wanted to write books since she was a little girl. She works as both Digital Publicity Director for publisher Bookouture. She lives in Staffordshire with her son Ollie and English Setter rescue dog Roni. When she’s not working or writing, Kim can be found walking her dog and reading, as well as running a book club in Staffordshire and organising local and national reader/author events.

Social Media Links –

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kim.nash.10

Twitter https://twitter.com/KimTheBookworm

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kim_the_bookworm/

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/KimNashNews

Bookbub profile: Kim Nash Books – BookBub

You Can’t Hurry Love by Susan Buchanan #BlogTour #BookReview #RachelsRandomResources @rararesources @Susan_Buchanan PLUS a GIVEAWAY!

11 May 2025 3 Comments

by Ritu in Reviews Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blog Tour, Blogger, Blogging, Book Review, Rachel's Random Resources, Susan Buchanan, You Can't Hurry Love

I’m back with another great blog tour review for my friend, Susan Buchanan and her latest release, You Can’t Hurry Love!

The Blurb

A delicious friends to lovers, forced proximity, workplace romance for 2025.

A 30th birthday celebration. A sloth sanctuary in Costa Rica. A split-second decision.

When Kat MacDonald takes the trip of a lifetime to Costa Rica, she doesn’t count on ditching her dead-end job, sending her uber-controlling boyfriend packing and volunteering at a sloth sanctuary.
But when she finally meets the swoon-worthy assistant manager Dexter, the chemistry between them is unmistakeable and sparks fly. Despite a rival for his affections, and her ex’s inability to know when to give up, she and Dexter are drawn to each other like magnets.
Just as she’s settling into life at the sanctuary and making friends, a letter arrives from back home in Scotland. A letter which could both upset her new plans and give her everything she has ever wanted. Everything except Dexter.
Kat is should she stay in the tropical rainforest paradise with her beloved sloths, new friends and the delectable Dexter or pursue her lifelong dream? Or can she find a way to have it all?

A fun, escapist read full of romance, beautiful scenery and humour, perfect for fans of Emily Henry, Beth O’Leary Leonie Mack and Portia MacIntosh.

My Review

You Can’t Hurry Love by Susan Buchanan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I must admit wanting to move to Costa Rica and see the Sloths!
That, Susan Buchanan, is because of you and your fantastic book!
Kat is in Costa Rica on the holiday of a lifetime. True – she’s not there with the person she wanted. That would have been Dad, with whom she shared many passions, including travel and sloths. She should have been there with her best friend in his absence, who ended up in a cast at the last minute and could not travel. That left her boyfriend, Aiden.
Sounds like a dream holiday. Beautiful tropical beaches, fantastic food, the love of your life by your side… However, things go awry when a particular person begins to show his true colours.
In Costa Rica alone, Kat wants to continue to honour the memory of her dad by doing all the things she promised herself she would do, including going to the Sloth Sanctuary.
I’m not going to recount the whole story for you now.
Kat’s adventure is longer than planned, and she finds herself in many beautiful places, in fantastical situations with someone rather gorgeous!
It’s never smooth sailing for her, though.
Kat ends up with some decisions to make, and because of being burned far too much in her near past, she sometimes allows that to dictate her plans, without putting the proper thought into things.
I don’t envy Kat. Well, the Kat at the beginning, anyway. Grief is complicated to deal with, and a broken relationship on top of that is not going to make it any easier. But, as she grows within the story and begins to experience things she never would have thought possible, that Kat, I envy!
The Gorgeous person I mentioned earlier, Dexter, is a beautifully sensitive soul, and a typical man. Seriously, why can they never say what they mean?
Still, everything was described in such a way that as I said at the start, I just want to go and see this gorgeous country, and get to know some sloths, with whom I had no affinity before!
A wonderful read!

Purchase Link – https://books2read.com/u/mKG0p5

About The Author

Susan Buchanan writes contemporary romance and women’s fiction, usually featuring travel, food, family, friendship and community.

She is the author of The Leap Year Proposal, The Christmas Spirit, Return of the Christmas Spirit, A Little Christmas Spirit, Just One Day – Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn, The Dating Game and Sign of the Times.

As a freelance developmental editor, copyeditor and proofreader, if she’s not reading, editing or writing, she’s thinking about it.

She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, the Society of Authors and the Alliance of Independent Authors.

She lives near Glasgow with her husband, two children and a crazy Labrador.

When she’s not editing, writing, reading or caring for her two delightful cherubs, she likes going to the theatre, playing board games, watching quiz shows and eating out, and she has recently discovered a love of writing retreats.

Social Media Links –

Website – www.susanbuchananauthor.com

Instagram – authorSusanBuchanan

Facebook – www.facebook.com/susancbuchanauthor

Twitter – susan_buchanan

Threads – AuthorSusanBuchanan

Bluesky @susanbuchanan.bsky.social

Giveaway to Win a paperback of You Can’t Hurry Love (Open to UK Only)

*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/33c69494612/?

The Dolce Vita Divas by Maddie Please #BlogTour #BookReview #RachelsRandomResources @rararesources @BoldwoodBooks

01 May 2025 Leave a comment

by Ritu in Reviews Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blog Tour, Blogger, Blogging, Boldwood Books, Book Tour, Maddie please, Rachel's Random Resources, The Dolce Vita Divas

I do love a romantic story with a more mature FMC, and was pleased to be asked to join the blog tour for Maddie Please’s The Dolce Vita Divas!

The Blurb

Sunshine, Sisterhood, and Second Chances

At the ripe (and fabulous) age of 64, Joanna Dawson finds herself feeling ever so slightly… meh. Her husband, Greg, has run off with a TBT (thin, blonde, trollop, obviously), her kids have flown the nest, and her social calendar is emptier than her wine rack.

As Jo’s 65th birthday looms, she’s left wondering: Is this it?

Enter Susie, her best friend, with an offer Jo can’t quite refuse: an all-expenses-paid trip to Italy to honour their late friend Ellen. Jo’s not sure she wants to go all the way to Italy, but with nothing else to do and if only to make Susie happy, she agrees. A holiday is a holiday after all.

Capri is even more gorgeous than Jo imagined and soon she and Susie are having the time of their life, especially as Jo is reunited with her dashing first love, Paulo. The one who, most definitely, got away…

Things might have fizzled with Paulo decades ago, but in the land of sun, pasta, and far too much wine, Jo begins to wonder: Could this be her second chance at life…and amore?

Pack your bags for a heartwarming, fun, and sun-drenched adventure as Jo discovers that life after 64 might just be the most exciting chapter yet.

My Review

The Dolce Vita Divas by Maddie Please
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have enjoyed some of Maddie Please’s previous books with older FMCs and seeing as that is where I am in life, it is great to read feel-good fiction targeted at that age.
Joanne is a retired woman, about to celebrate a key birthday and reflecting on her life.
She’s going to hit 65, divorced, with an ex-husband shacked up with his secretary, three grown-up children, two granddaughters and has recently, reluctantly, welcomed her son back home while he mops up his life after a breakup.
A short birthday break with one of her best friends, Susie, gives her reason to want to stretch her wings a little further, out of the comfort of her staid life.
They find themselves in Capri, to celebrate the life of one of their friends, Ellen, who passed away, and Jo faces a person she classes as her first love. Paulo.
I’m not going to detail what what happens, but there is plenty of wine, pasta, and humour. The side cast of characters, including the indomitable Contessa, mother of Paulo, and little Eric, Paulo’s 5-year-old grandson, bring much enjoyment to the tale, and ultimately, seeing a woman grab her life back when others are saying “What? At your age?”, is just inspirational!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for an ARC.

Purchase Link – https://mybook.to/dolcevitadivas

About The Author

Maddie Please is the author of bestselling joyous tales of older women. She has had a career as a dentist and now lives in rural Herefordshire where she enjoys box sets, red wine and Christmas.

Social Media Links –

Facebook: @maddieplease

Twitter: @MaddiePlease1

Instagram: @maddieplease1

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/MaddiePleaseNews

Bookbub profile: @MaddiePlease

The House Of Lost Whispers by Jenni Keer #BlogTour #BookReview #RachelsRandomResources @rararesources @BoldwoodBooks @JenniKeer

28 Apr 2025 7 Comments

by Ritu in Reviews Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blog Tour, Blogger, Blogging, Boldwood Books, Book Tour, Jenni Keer, Rachel's Random Resources, Reviews

Absolutely thrilled to be a part of the blog tour for Jenni’s newest release, The House Of Lost Whispers!

The Blurb

On 15^th April 1912, RMS Titanic sank and Olivia’s life changed forever… but what if a world existed where it hadn’t?

When the ill-fated maiden voyage of the Titanic leaves thirteen-year-old Olivia Davenport orphaned, she’s sent to live with her guardians, the Fairchilds, in their huge Jacobean mansion – Merriford Manor. But the Fairchilds have more to worry about than a grieving young girl – with war in Europe imminent and four sons to protect.

Olivia feels alone and friendless. That is, until she hears a voice from behind the wall in her tower bedroom. A voice from a man called Seth. Convinced he’s merely a product of her grieving imagination, she learns to live with him but it’s not until after the heartbreak of the war that Olivia, now a young woman of twenty, discovers that he exists in an overlapping world that is just a shudder in time away from her own. A world where the Titanic never sank… And everything since has been just slightly… different.

All Olivia wants is to find a way into his reality. And not just to see the faces of her beloved parents once again. But also to meet Seth. Who might just be the love of her life…

An utterly unforgettable reading group historical novel, that is part romance, part gripping mystery, and part completely heartbreaking First World War historical fiction. Perfect for fans of Titanic, In Memoriam and Lucinda Riley.

My Review

The House of Lost Whispers by Jenni Keer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The moment I saw this book up for review, I jumped at the chance because I have enjoyed every one of Jenni Keer’s novels, and I love the way historical aspects are woven into her fantastic fiction.
The House of Lost Whispers is no different. I think it is one of my favourite Jenni Keer books!
There is a dual timeline, with a difference. Olivia Davenport, the FMC and daughter of a famous author, is grieving after losing her parents tragically as passengers on the ill-fated Titanic.
Olivia is taken to the village of Merriford Lode to live with her legal guardian and her father’s best friend, Sir Hugo, in his large manor house. Olivia loses herself in the fantasy world created in her mind until she is reintroduced to four sons of the family, one younger, one a similar age, and two much older.
She finds herself drawn to a particular wing of the house and requests that she be allowed to stay there, displacing a young gardener.
The dual timeline bit comes here, where Olivia finds someone else here, not a ghost, but someone who appears to live in the same place, but in a different dimension.
He’s the same gardener she displaced, Seth Tanner, and as they go through time, they build an unlikely friendship that sees them through personal ups and downs and the First World War. They never see each other but are strangely able to hear one another.
Like the movie The Butterfly Effect, one difference in their lives at a key moment garners different effects to their lives.
You have a bit of history, along with fiction, a bit of a murder mystery and a little paranormal romance thrown in.
I was hooked from the beginning and loved it.
I’m sure I won’t be the only one hoping and wishing for a secret portal to open up, allowing these two very different individuals to meet…
I’m not saying anything else. Don’t want to ruin the story for anyone, but it was pure magic!
Can’t wait for whatever comes next, Jenni!

Purchase Link – https://mybook.to/HouseLostWhispers

About the Author

Jenni Keer lives in the glorious Suffolk countryside with her four grown up children, three demanding cats, but just the one husband. She is often frustrated by their inability to appreciate that when she’s staring into space, she’s actually working, and that watching television counts as research. Much younger in her head than she is on paper, she adores any excuse for fancy-dress and is part of a disco formation dance team.

Keer has written two contemporary rom coms and five quirky historicals, with two more due out in 2025.

The best-selling No. 23 Burlington Square (her 1920s sliding doors mystery) has now sold over 100,000 copies.

Social Media Links –

Facebook: @jenni.keer

Twitter: @JenniKeer

Instagram: @JenniKeer

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/JenniKeerNews

Bookbub profile: @jennikeer

The Best Days Of Our Lives by Helen Rolfe #BlogTour #BookReview #RachelsRandomResources @rararesources @BoldwoodBooks

18 Apr 2025 2 Comments

by Ritu in Reviews Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blog Tour, Blogger, Blogging, Book Tour, Helen Rolfe, Rachel's Random Resources, The Best Days Of Our Lives

Today, I am thrilled to be on the blog Tour for Helen Rolfe’s The Best Days Of Our Lives.

The Blurb

When Mallory receives life-shattering news, she decides to use this summer to make sure her family and friends are prepared for whatever might come.

But Mallory has a challenge when it comes to her mother, Gigi. Following the loss of her husband, Gigi is lonely. So when Mallory makes a shocking discovery that shows a new side to Gigi’s relationship with her estranged sister Rose, she decides to intervene and make a last attempt to reunite them.

Returning to her mother’s quiet hometown, Mallory and her cousin Penny try to get to the bottom of a dispute that has lasted more than sixty years, involving a lost wedding dress and a heartbreaking secret. But with Rose and Gigi determined to ignore their daughters’ efforts, will Mallory be able to put her affairs in order before it’s too late?

My Review

The Best Days of Our Lives: A gorgeous, uplifting, romantic read from Helen Rolfe by Helen Rolfe
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh, what a beautiful, sad, yet heartwarming story!
Mallory receives some devastating news and just knows that she has to ‘get her ducks in a row’ as her father used to say, before life for her and those she loves the most implodes.
There are two stories entwined within this book; one following two sisters, Rose and Gigi, who become estranged after a misunderstanding, and one, thirty years later, of Mallory, and her cousin Penny as they try hard to bring their mothers back together, using a special wedding dress.
for Mallory, this is a chance to not only get her mother, Gigi, and her aunt, Rose, back in touch, but to finally tell them her awful news.
I was hooked from the beginning.
The story covers a few topics, such as racism, loss, grief, but we also have more than one second chance romance touched upon, too.
There is such sadness within the story, but it is filled with light-hearted humour as well.
The situation Mallory is in is one no mother would ever want to be put in, and that made my heart bleed for her. I feared for an ending that would have me in tears, but instead, hope and positivity shone through.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for an ARC.

Purchase Link – https://mybook.to/bestdaysofourlives

About the Author

Helen Rolfe writes contemporary women’s fiction and romantic fiction. She enjoys weaving stories about family, friendship, secrets, and relationships. Characters often face challenges and must fight to overcome them, but above all, Helen’s stories always have a happy ending.

Helen loves creating village settings or places with a small-town feel and a big sense of community. Location has always been a big part of the adventure in Helen’s books and she enjoys setting stories in different cities and countries around the world. So far, locations have included Melbourne, Sydney, New York, Connecticut, Bath, Paris and the Cotswolds.

Born and raised in the UK, Helen graduated from University with a business degree and began working in I.T. This job took her over to Australia where she eventually turned her attentions back to the career she’d dreamt of since she was fourteen. She studied writing and journalism and wrote articles for women’s health and fitness magazines. Helen began writing fiction in 2011 and hasn’t missed the I.T. world one little bit… in fact she may just have found her dream job!

Social Media Links –

Facebook: @HelenRolfeAuthor

Instagram: @helen_j_rolfe

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/HelenRolfeNews

Bookbub profile: @helenrolfe