Lynne Shelby | But I Smile Anyway...

A Venice Summer by Lynne Shelby #BlogTour #RachelsRandomResources @rararesources @LynneShelby5

I am delighted to be on the Blog tour for Lynne Shelby’s A Venice Summer!

The Blurb

Art conservator Rose Bennet is still reeling from a bad break-up when she is offered a dream job in Venice, restoring an art collection in the Ca’ D’Ambra, a six-hundred-year-old Venetian palazzo. Despite her fears about travelling to a foreign country on her own, Rose is soon heading to Italy for the summer.

While she is awestruck by the breathtaking beauty of Venice, Rose finds the owner of the palazzo, the arrogant and short-tempered Luca Casserini, insufferable. When he questions her ability to do her work, she almost heads straight back to London, but decides that she won’t let herself be intimidated or driven away before she’s even had a chance to ride in a gondola.

Losing her way in Venice’s picturesque maze of canals and alleyways, the last person Rose wants to see is her employer, but when they meet by chance and, to her surprise, he offers to show her around the city, she feels it would be churlish to refuse.

Spending sunlit summer days exploring Venice with Luca, Rose discovers a passionate side to him, very different to her first impression, and her feelings towards him begin to change …

Rose knows she can restore a damaged painting, but can she mend Luca’s damaged heart?

My Review

A Venice Summer: a sunlit summer romance by Lynne Shelby
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a gorgeous story!
This dual-timeline tale focuses on an art conservator, Rose, who moves to Venice for the summer to work on a special project.
While there, she begins to unravel a mystery connected to the 16th-century painting she is restoring, and possibly falls headlong in love not only with Venice but also with a certain young man.
Reading the short snippets relating to a young Italian noblewoman, rumoured to be the subject of the artwork being restored, really added another layer of depth to the whole story.
Rose’s character warmed to me as she isn’t a flighty young thing but is undergoing her own metamorphosis when she escapes to Venice for a job that fell at her feet at an extremely convenient time.
Luca, the owner of the palazzo where Rose is stationed, is a brooding Italian hero with his own responsibilities, which he never forgets, and I love that in a man!
When I read destination books, I always want to go there to experience the place, and this book did exactly that. The authors’ fantastic descriptions of the areas in Venice and the architecture really made me want to visit personally, too.
The details regarding the restoration of artworks were fascinating, and I now want to go to a proper Venetian masked ball!

Purchase Links

https://www.amazon.com/Venice-Summer-sunlit-summer-romance-ebook/dp/B0GGX58TWJ/

About the Author

Lynne Shelby writes contemporary women’s fiction/romance. Her debut novel, ‘Meet Me In Paris,’ (originally titled French Kissing), won the Accent Press and Woman magazine Writing Competition. She has done a variety of jobs from stable girl to child actor’s chaperone to legal administrator, but now writes full time. When not writing or reading, Lynne can usually be found at the theatre or exploring a foreign city – Paris, New York, Rome, Copenhagen, Seattle, Reykjavik – writer’s notebook, camera and sketchbook in hand. She lives in London with her husband, and has three adult children who live nearby.

Social Media Links –

Facebook: www.facebook.com/LynneShelbyWriter

Instagram: lynneshelbywriter

Bluesky: @lynneshelby.bsky.social

Threads: @lynneshelbywriter

Twitter: @LynneShelby5

Dancing In The Moonlight by Lynne Shelby #BlogTour #RachelsRandomResources @rararesources @LynneShelby5

I am delighted to be on the Blog tour for Lynne Shelby’s Dancing In The Moonlight!

When dancer Nell Avery auditions for Speakeasy, a new West End musical, she is shocked to discover that the choreographer is Finn Harris, a man she never expected to see again.

Ten years ago, Nell and Finn had a casual, no-strings fling. He left London to work abroad. Nell found herself pregnant.

Having made the decision to raise her child alone, Nell didn’t tell Finn that he was the father, a secret easy for her to keep while he was hundreds of miles away. But now Finn is back – and he offers Nell a role in Speakeasy’s cast.

Nell knows if she takes the job she risks Finn finding out her secret, with unimaginable consequences for the life she has made for herself and her daughter, Savannah. But Speakeasy could be Nell’s only chance of dancing on a West End stage – the dream she’s had ever since she first put on a pair of tap shoes. How can she give up her dream?

Nell accepts the role, telling herself that all she has to do is keep away from Finn . . .

My Review

Dancing In The Moonlight by Lynne Shelby
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh, what a beautiful book!
There’s just something about a story set in the dance world, and here we have a gorgeous story based in the West End with second chances all over the show!
Nell is a talented dancer and a single mother. She has the chance of a lifetime to make one of her dance dreams come true by auditioning for a part in the ensemble of a brand new West End Musical, Speakeasy.
It’s tough auditioning for a part, with most of the others being much fitter, more energetic, and younger, but Nell is determined. Until she casts her eyes on the choreographer, Finn, someone she never thought she would see again after their friendship and fling ten years ago, where she was left a little bit heartbroken and a whole lot pregnant.
I love how this story developed, with Nell’s determination to succeed and her mothering side encouraging the others around her.
Finn is a character you want to cheer for because you know they would make a great couple.
The cast of characters surrounding them is brilliantly fleshed out, including Nell’s nine-year-old daughter, Savannah, a dance enthusiast, and Florence, a young ensemble member Nell takes under her wing. Who knows—maybe a story all about Florence and her fledgling romance would be good!
I also loved the backstory of Lily Dene, who the Nightingale Playhouse in the book is named after.

About the Author