Blog Tour Review: One Last Summer by Victoria Connelly

One Last Summer by Victoria Connelly

Published: 5th February 2019

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Pages:  296

Available in Ppaerback and on Kindle

Order now from Amazon

Rating: 5/5

Blurb

They have the whole summer ahead of them. Is it enough to rekindle the friendship they once shared?
Harriet Greenleaf dreams of spending the summer in a beautiful ancient priory on the Somerset coast with her two best friends—but her dream is bittersweet. On the one hand, it’s a chance to reconnect three lives that have drifted apart; on the other, she has a devastating secret to share that will change everything between them forever.
First to arrive is Audrey—the workaholic who’s heading for a heart attack unless she slows down and makes time for herself. Then Lisa, the happy-go-lucky flirt who’s always struggled to commit to anyone—or anything. Ever the optimist, can Harriet remind them of the joy in their lives and the importance of celebrating good friendship before it’s gone?
Through the highs and lows of a long, glorious summer, these three women will rediscover what it means to be there for each other—before they face the hardest of goodbyes.

Review

Surprisingly, One Last Summer is the first novel I’ve read by Victoria Connelly and judging by this one I need to go and read more of her books as this one was truly wonderful.

Harriet has booked a priory to stay in with her friends Audrey and Lisa. After spending six years apart Harriet knows its time to bring her friends together again for what will be her last summer. Together they reminisce about their past lives, until Harrie drops her bombshell on them, that she has terminal cancer and only a few months left. This rocks their friendship but ultimately leaves them stronger than ever and Audrey and Lisa question what they will do with their futures.

My overall feeling after reading One Last Summer is what an incredibly talented writer Victoria Connelly is. I’ve been lucky enough to not experience the effects of cancer too closely, but her words seem to perfectly encapsulate all the feelings and emotions people would go through when dealing with the news a loved one is going to die. The writing is sensitive, realistic and thought-provoking but despite such a sad subject matter I was left feeling very uplifted.

This is a story of loss and illness but its also a story of love, family and friendships and most of all, living life and enjoying the simple things in life like the feel of rain on your face or the taste of the most perfect birthday cake. I can highly recommend this book as it totally hooked me and I ended up reading it in one night as I couldn’t tear myself away.

Thank you so much to the publishers and Rachel’s Random Resources for sending me a copy to review and introducing me to a new author whose writing I adore and cannot wait to read more from. 

About the Author

Author Bio

Victoria Connelly studied English literature at Worcester University, got married in a medieval castle in the Yorkshire Dales and now lives in rural Suffolk with her artist husband, a young springer spaniel and a flock of ex-battery hens.
She is the author of two bestselling series, Austen Addicts and The Book Lovers, as well as many other novels and novellas. Her first published novel, Flights of Angels, was made into a film in 2008 by Ziegler Films in Germany. The Runaway Actress was shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Romantic Comedy Novel award.
Ms Connelly loves books, films, walking, historic buildings and animals. If she isn’t at her keyboard writing, she can usually be found in her garden, with either a trowel in her hand or a hen on her lap.

Her website is www.victoriaconnelly.com, and readers can follow her on Twitter @VictoriaDarcy and on Instagram @VictoriaConnellyAuthor.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/312085782631729/

Twitter: @VictoriaDarcy

Instagram: @VictoriaConnellyAuthor

UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/One-Last-Summer-Victoria-Connelly-ebook/dp/B07G38S71K

US - https://www.amazon.com/One-Last-Summer-Victoria-Connelly-ebook/dp/B07G38S71K

Blog Tour Review: The Distance by Zoe Folbigg

The Distance by Zoe Folbigg

Published: 1st June 2018

Publisher: Aria

Pages: 368

Available on Kindle

Order now from Amazon

Rating: 3/5

Blurb

From the author of the bestselling novel, The Note, comes this beautiful, romantic tale of finding love in the most unexpected places.

Under the midnight sun of Arctic Norway, Cecilie Wiig goes online and stumbles across Hector Herrera in a band fan forum. They start chatting and soon realise they might be more than kindred spirits. But there are two big problems: Hector lives 8,909km away in Mexico. And he's about to get married.

Can Cecilie, who's anchored to two jobs she loves in the library and a cafe full of colourful characters in the town in which she grew up, overcome the hurdles of having fallen for someone she's never met? Will Hector escape his turbulent past and the temptations of his hectic hedonistic life and make a leap of faith to change the path he's on?

Zoe Folbigg's latest novel is a story of two people, living two very different lives, and whether they can cross a gulf, ocean, sea and fjord to give their love a chance.

Review

The Distance is Zoe Folbigg’s latest novel and like its successful predecessor The Note is explores the concept of love overcoming any obstacle. In this book it’s the story of love between Hector and Cecilie. Hector lives in Mexico and Cecilie lives in northern Norway, the two “meet” in a music chat room one evening in 2013. Over the next five years the two communicate via the internet and slowly fall in love, there’s just one major problem the distance between them. Will these two ever gain the courage to meet up and give their relationship a chance or are they destined to be pen-pals for ever?

Cecilie and Hector are two characters which I didn’t gel with for a long time. Hector seems a bit of a player and spends much of his time drinking and partying until the early hours without a care in the world. Cecilie came across as very young and naïve despite being in her late twenties, she acted more like a sulky teenager most of the time. I did warm to them towards the end of the book but only after they make big changes in their lives.

My favourite part of the story was Kate’s, who lives in England with her husband George and their three children. I immediately like Kate although I couldn’t work out her connection to either Hector or Cecilie. This is explained further on in the book but doesn’t fully make sense until the very end of the book.

I found The Distance quite a hard book to read, you have to be paying full attention as the narrative switches between and Hector, Cecilie and Kate and jumps through a time period between 2013 and 2019, so sometimes I was confused by what exactly was going on, making it a hard book to enjoy.

The Distance is a book about love finding a way, no matter what, about not giving up on your dreams and doing what makes you happy. It had some funny moment, some sad moments and some heartfelt moments which made for a well-rounded read. I liked this book, but I didn’t love it as much as Ms. Folbigg’s first novel.

Thank you to aria and Netgalley for inviting me to be part of the blog tour and sending me a copy to review.

About the Author

Zoë Folbigg is a magazine journalist and digital editor, starting at Cosmopolitan in 2001 and since freelancing for titles including Glamour, Fabulous, Daily Mail, Healthy, LOOK, Top Santé, Mother & Baby, ELLE, Sunday Times Style, and Style.com. In 2008 she had a weekly column in Fabulous magazine documenting her year-long round-the-world trip with ‘Train Man’ – a man she had met on her daily commute. She has since married Train Man and lives in Hertfordshire with him and their two young sons. She is the bestselling author of The Note. 

Buy now links:

Amazon: mybook.to/TheDistance  

Kobo: https://bit.ly/2H1MHxn

iBooks: https://apple.co/2EMMLv3

Google play: http://bit.ly/2l7RakV 

Follow Zoe

Website: http://www.zoefolbigg.com/

Twitter: @zolington

Facebook: @zoefolbiggauthor

Follow Aria

Website: www.ariafiction.com

Twitter: @aria_fiction

Facebook: @ariafiction

Instagram: @ariafiction

Blog Tour Review: Behind Her back by Jane Lythell

Behind Her Back (StoryWorld #2) by Jane Lythell

Published: 8th February 2018

Publisher: Head of Zeus

Pages: 368

Available in Paperback and on Kindle

Order now from Amazon

Rating: 4/5

Blurb

Liz Lyon is a television producer and busy single mum to a teenage daughter. She works at StoryWorld, the UK's favourite morning show. As both confidante and team leader, she is the person tasked with controlling the conflicts and tantrums that flare up off-air. Having just started dating again, she's also having to deal with a few conflicts and tantrums at home...

Following a blissfully peaceful two-week holiday in Italy, Liz has returned to find a new colleague has joined the station. Lori Kerwell has been brought in to increase the show's profitability. But Liz is not sure that's the only thing on Lori's agenda.

As Lori builds her power base with the bosses, Liz finds herself wondering what's really going on behind her back...

Review

Behind Her Back by Jane Lythell is the story of Liz Lyons, a TV produces for the hit daytime show StoryWorld. On her return to work after a two week break there’s a new member to the StoryWorld team Lori Kerwell. A woman who knows exactly what she wants and takes no prisoners on her way to get there.  There is instant tension between her and Liz, as Liz is used to being the woman in control and doesn’t like her job criticized from an outsider. Along with the tensions building between Liz and Lori there is also a storm brewing among returning presenter Fizzy and her stand-in Leyton, both wanting to be the solo star of the show.  In among the rivalry, secrets and back-stabbing Liz also finds time to juggle caring for her teenage daughter Flo, keeping her house in order and finds time for the occasional date.

I really liked Liz as a character, she’s driven to do well in her job but not to the extent that it takes over all her life. She’s a single mum and makes sure that fifteen-year-old daughter Flo knows she’s loved and that Liz is there for her always, despite usually getting the brunt of Flo’s teenage angst when things don’t turn out quite as she planned. She’s also very loyal towards her team and tries her best to make sure they are all happy at work and will defend them when any of them come under-fire. Liz has also kept secrets for various members of her team, which in the wrong hands could have ruined their careers and their private lives. My favourite part was reading about her getting ready for the big awards dinner and looking for the perfect dress and all the insecurities which go with that. These scenes showed her at her best a real woman which many of us can relate, who every now and then gets to be the princess.

Lori, couldn’t be more different from Liz and was not someone I warmed to. She’s cold-hearted, ruthless and will manipulate people to get what she wants. The way she made suggestions for the programme which were frankly stupid was annoying, more so that the big bosses seemed to run with her idea and the leave Liz with the blame when it went wrong made me angry for Liz. I didn’t like Fizzy much either as she seemed to be able to manipulate people, especially men into doing what she wanted too, the only difference was she has a much bubblier personality than Lori so got away with it more.  

Written from Liz’s perspective, it felt very much like reading a diary as there is a lot of narrative where Liz is contemplating events which have happened to herself. I really liked this format of writing as it mirrored the storyline making it feel like one of those real-life TV documentaries.  I was unaware until about a third of the way through the book that this is the second StoryWorld novel. Events from the previous novel are described enough that I didn’t feel I missed out by not reading the first book. I was a little sad that just as I had really got into the novel it seemed like it had ended, leaving me with a few questions as to what happened next, like what happened with Ron? Hopefully this means there is a third StoryWorld novel on its way…fingers crossed.

Behind Her Back is a realistic look at life behind the lens, looking at the relationships between presenters and producers and the underlying tensions and rivalries among them all. It is a book I enjoyed very much and I look forward to reading more from this author.