Today I am reviewing a very special debut, The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo. There has been quite a buzz around this book so I was really curious about it. And I can already tell you that it did not disappoint at all. Here are my thoughts about this story:

Title: The Light We Lost

Author: Jill Santopolo

Published: May 9th 2017 by HQ Stories

Amazon | Amazon UK

Blurb: He was the first person to inspire her, to move her, to truly understand her. Was he meant to be the last?

Lucy is faced with a life-altering choice. But before she can make her decision, she must start her story—their story—at the very beginning.

Lucy and Gabe meet as seniors at Columbia University on a day that changes both of their lives forever. Together, they decide they want their lives to mean something, to matter. When they meet again a year later, it seems fated—perhaps they’ll find life’s meaning in each other. But then Gabe becomes a photojournalist assigned to the Middle East and Lucy pursues a career in New York. What follows is a thirteen-year journey of dreams, desires, jealousies, betrayals, and, ultimately, of love. Was it fate that brought them together? Is it choice that has kept them away? Their journey takes Lucy and Gabe continents apart, but never out of each other’s hearts.

Review: The Light We Lost tells the story of Lucy and Gabe, from when they first met on September 11th 2001, and for the following 13 years of their lives. As you can imagine, I got quite attached to these characters, specially Lucy, as she is the one narrating the story. She tells the story as if it was a really long letter to Gabe, in second person, and even if I found this narrative a bit odd at the beginning, it soon captured my attention and I think it worked very well. Like we were spying on their lives. It also helped reflect the intensity of all the emotions and feelings between them during their up and downs.

Theirs was definitely a sweeping love story. It's hard to believe they were together for such a short period of time. But I guess some people leave such a strong and special mark in your life that it is impossible to completely forget them, even if you try really hard. Also, they met in a very crucial point of their lives, when they were still young and naive and thought they could change the world. So I guess that reaching out to each other later in life was not only reminiscing about their young love but about their younger selves. And I think we can all relate to this.

As people, Lucy and Gabe were not perfect. They took decisions they regretted, made selfish choices and were probably too proud or arrogant more than once. But nobody is perfect... so I felt like I got to know two real people, with real feelings. They made me angry several times but they made me laugh too. They also made me cry and surprised me. What else can you ask for in a novel? Theirs was a story I won't forget in a long time and I think Jill Santopolo's style was really honest and compelling.

But don't you think that this story is only about love, it's also about growing up, family, loss, reaching for your dreams, dealing with your feelings and trying to be a better self.

Rating: 4,5 stars

I would like to thank the publisher for sending me a copy of this book. This is my honest opinion.

Today I am very excited to quick off the Blog Tour for Penny Parkes' second novel Practice Makes Perfect. This lovely story is out this Thursday and if you enjoyed Penny's debut, Out of Practice, you cannot miss this one!

Title: Practice Makes Perfect

Author: Penny Parkes

Published: June 29th 2017 by Simon & Schuster

Amazon | Amazon UK

Blurb: The Practice at Larkford has suddenly been thrust under the spotlight – and its nomination as a ‘NHS Model Surgery’ is causing the team major headaches. Dr Holly Graham should be basking in the glow of her new romance with fellow doctor, Taffy – but she is worried that the team is prioritising plaudits over patients, and her favourite resident, the irreverent and entertaining Elsie, is facing a difficult diagnosis. Add to that the chaos of family life and the strain is starting to show.

Dr Dishy Dan Carter’s obsession with work is masking unhappiness elsewhere – he can’t persuade girlfriend Julia to settle down. It’s only as Julia’s mother comes to stay that he realizes what she has been hiding for so long. Alice Walker joins the team like a breath of fresh air and her assistance dog Coco quickly wins everyone round – which is just as well, because Coco and Alice will soon need some help of their own. Can they pull together and become the Dream Team that the NHS obviously thinks they are?

Out of Practice won the Romantic Comedy of the Year category of the RNA Awards.

Review: Out of Practice, Penny's Parkes debut, was one of the cosiest and most delightful reads I read last year, so I was really looking forward to being back in Larkford and catching up with Holly and all the gang. And I can already tell you that Practice Makes Perfect doesn't disappoint at all.

The story takes off a few months after the first book finished. The practice and their new managing style with no senior partner is a roaring success and satisfaction with patients is better than it has ever been. This leads to a nomination for the practice to become a model for NHS, but this soon turns to be more complications and scrutiny for the four doctors. 

The nomination though is not the only thing going on in the story. A TV team is recording their every move as Julia has become a TV star. Holly and Taffy are juggling too many plates at once with taking care of two overactive kids and a crazy dog, running the practice and actually seeing patients. The new addition to the practice, young Alice, is having problems adjusting, Elsie isn't at her best, and there's also seem to be problems in paradise with Dan and Julia...

As you can see there, this book is packed with drama and soon you find yourself immersed in the story and forgetting about your own reality. I really loved getting to know a new version of Taffy in this story, as he becomes more and more involved in Holly's life and we can see there's more to him than the easy-going guy we met in the first book. Also, every scene with Elsie is a joy to read. Her pearls of wisdom and advice for Holly and the girls are not only useful for them but for all of us. 

Just as Out of Practice, Practice Makes Perfect is not a short book but once again, the pages flew by. There's certainly no time for breathing with so many things happening at once. There are surprises for everyone and Penny Parkes' fun and compelling style make for a very entertaining read. I really hope that she is planning on more Larkford stories as I can't seem to get enough of these lovely characters. 

Rating: 4 stars

I would like to thank the publisher for sending me a copy of this book. This is my honest opinion.

Don't miss any stops on the Blog Tour, it's going to be a good one!

Today's review is for a very special story, Phantom Limbs by Paula Garner. This debut was a beautiful story that surprised and captured me. Read all my thoughts about it here:

Title: Phantom Limbs

Author: Paula Garner

Published: June 1st 2017 by Walker Books

Amazon | Amazon UK

Blurb: How do you move on from an irreplaceable loss? In a poignant debut, a sixteen-year-old boy must learn to swim against an undercurrent of grief—or be swept away by it.

Otis and Meg were inseparable until her family abruptly moved away after the terrible accident that left Otis’s little brother dead and both of their families changed forever. Since then, it’s been three years of radio silence, during which time Otis has become the unlikely protégé of eighteen-year-old Dara—part drill sergeant, part friend—who’s hell-bent on transforming Otis into the Olympic swimmer she can no longer be. But when Otis learns that Meg is coming back to town, he must face some difficult truths about the girl he’s never forgotten and the brother he’s never stopped grieving. As it becomes achingly clear that he and Meg are not the same people they were, Otis must decide what to hold on to and what to leave behind. Quietly affecting, this compulsively readable debut novel captures all the confusion, heartbreak, and fragile hope of three teens struggling to accept profound absences in their lives.

Review: Phantom Limbs is a beautifully written story about grief, about growing up, about moving on (or maybe a little bit about moving on and a little bit about not wanting to move on), but above all, about love. First love, romantic love, friendship love, family love, encompassing love, hurting love, secret love, undesired love... 

It was really easy, since the beginning, to connect with Otis. He narrates the story with such sincerity and humour that I felt like I really got to know him, his secrets, his fears, his goals. And he really had such a good heart. Sometimes I felt like the world was too complicated for him but far from being intimidated, he kept going forward. 

Both his relationships with Meg and Dara were difficult to understand, even for him, but getting to know them, I got to really care for them both and I understood why they were so hard for him sometimes. They made me cry, they made me laugh, they made me feel. These three characters were really well developed and felt completely real. As did the supporting characters too. 

Phantom Limbs is equally heart-breaking as inspiring. It is not a story with a lot of action but it is one with a lot of feelings and one that will stay with me for a long time. Stunning debut, I am already looking forward to Paula Garner's future work.

Rating: 4 stars

I would like to thank the publishers for sending me a copy of this book. This is my honest opinion. 

Today is my stop on the Blog Tour for Eileen Ramsay's latest book. The Farm Girl's Dream is out today and to celebrate it, Eileen has stopped by to answer all my bookish questions, don't miss it:

1) Hi Eileen and welcome to Alba in Bookland. First of all, could you tell us a bit about yourself?

Eileen here, nice to be with you. I was born and brought up in South-west Scotland I liked school, especially English, history and music. At that time, music education was a thirty minute radio programme once a week but my father’s family were all singers and my mother loved to listen to opera on the radio. 

After school I went to a teachers’ training college in Edinburgh – the education was first rate and the music sublime. During one of the long ‘breaks’ I got a job as a waitress in an Italian restaurant; fantastic fun. Learned some Italian and how to make Zabaglione. I fell in love – with grand opera, and it’s still a passion.

Before graduation I applied for a teaching post in Washington DC and was thrilled to be accepted. Some of the parents of the children whom I taught were extremely important people and they were very friendly and hospitable to what they saw as a young woman aIone in a foreign country. In DC I met and married a fellow Scot who whisked me away from the high life to California. We lived close to the border with Mexico and as the school in which I taught had a large immigrant population I started to learn Spanish. We visited Mexico often and I fell in love with the country, its people and its history. I studied Spanish and Mexican music and culture there as part of my master’s degree.

The country we visit most often now is Italy. While we were dating I asked my husband to name his favourite book. ‘The Leopard,’ he said immediately. Mine, by the way, is Cry the Beloved Country. Unfortunately there are now too many beloved countries to cry over but Italy isn’t one of them.

Back in Scotland after 18 years, I joined a writing group and wrote some educational materials before starting a series of sagas based on careers for women, teaching, the law, etcetera and was thrilled when the first was accepted. Thanks to the incomparable Hugh Rae, I joined the Society of Authors and later the Romantic Novelists Association, both to be recommended heartily to aspiring writers.

3) Your novels are set in different times and places. How do you research your settings? 

Settings. I’ve either been there, or watched geographical programmes or spoken to someone from there. As to events, I read history, newspapers, and again talk to people.

4) Do your own experiences influence your stories? 

Yes, my experiences turn up all the time. Let’s say you slipped on ice and when you fell your skirt went right up over your face. Believe me you never forget that, especially if that 6th former you’ve been trying to interest for ages is the knight in football kit who pulls it down and you up.

5) If you could switch places with a character from one of your books, who would it be and why?

I like them all; I created them but I’d be Tony. Just imagine having a tenor on call – Il Mio Tesoro while you’re peeling potatoes etc.

6) You have a long career as a writer, any tips for any aspiring author out there?

Tips for new writers. I’d say read and sometimes read out of your comfort zone. And listen. Listen to people speak. Airports are great, every accent under the sun. And not just the accents but the phrases. Authenticity is priceless. And read your own work out loud. You’ll spot mistakes that way.

7) Finally, what are you working on now? 

Not ready to write them yet but there’s a gorgeous musician standing on a rock at the edge of a loch – poor chap’s been there for six years. Time to rescue him?

And there on a street in Glasgow is a hunk in uniform. Wow, could he be a G.I? Time will tell.

About the book:

Title: The Farm Girl's Dream

Author: Eileen Ramsay

Published: June 15th 2017 by Bonnier Zaffre

Amazon | Amazon UK

Today's review is for Sarah Morgan's new book, Holiday in the Hamptons. This summer read is out tomorrow and I had a great time during it during my holidays, as you can get from the pic with the beautiful beach! Read my thoughts here:

Title: Holiday in the Hamptons

Atuhor: Sarah Morgan

Published: June 15th 2017 by HQ Stories

Amazon | Amazon UK

Blurb: The perfect summer escape…?

Professional dog-walker Felicity Knight loves everything about New York…until her ex-husband starts working at her local vet clinic. She hasn’t seen Seth Carlyle in ten years, but one glimpse of him – too gorgeous, and still too good for her – and Fliss’s heart hurts like their whirlwind marriage ended yesterday. So when her grandmother in The Hamptons needs help for the summer, it seems the perfect way to escape her past…

Their relationship might only have lasted a few scorching months, but vet Seth knows Fliss – if she’s run away to The Hamptons, it’s because she still feels their connection and it terrifies her. He let her go once before, when he didn’t know any better, but not this summer! With the help of his adorable dog Lulu, and a sprinkling of beachside magic, Seth is determined to make Fliss see that he’s never stopped loving her…

Review: And we are back in New York with Sarah Morgan and the Knight family. After really enjoying New York, Actually, the first book in this trilogy, I was really curious about finding out more about the Knight twin sisters. We know from the first book that they have a very successful dog walking business but not so successful love lives. If you haven't read the first book, don't worry though, this can be read as a standalone as it only mentions the characters and the event from the first book in passing. 

This story is all about Fliss, with her sister taking a step back. Fliss's ex-husband is in town and Fliss is determined not to run into him so she offers to go take care of their grandmother in the Hamptons. Imagine her surprise when she runs into him as soon as she sets foot in the Hamptons. From here, their encounters start happening more and more often.

I loved discovering a bit more about the Hamptons through this story. For me, it is just a summer destination for healthy New Yorkers but we soon discover that this place has a really nice community atmosphere and that people care about each other. I loved reading about Fliss's grandmother and her friends getting up to mischief and how everyone cared for each other. Fiss's ex-husband is also a very interesting character and their interactions were always quite interesting. 

I have to say that this won't be my favourite book from the series though. I had more fun on the first book for example, as I felt that the sparks and tension between the two main characters was more intense and felt more real. But, as usual, Sarah Morgan creates the perfect story to escape to this summer, with a beautiful setting and lots of fun. Definitely one to check with a cocktail on a beach just like I did. 

Rating: 4 stars

I would like to thank the publisher for sending me a copy of this book. This is my honest opinion.

Today I am reviewing The Little Teashop of Broken Hearts by Jennifer Joyce, published earlier this year. You can read my thoughts about it here:

Title: The Little Teashop of Broken Hearts 

Author: Jennifer Joyce

Published: February 8th 2017 by HQ Stories

Amazon | Amazon UK

Blurb: A deliciously charming romance, perfect for fans of Caroline Roberts, Jane Linfoot and Debbie Johnson. 

From fairy cakes to first dates!

Maddie Lamington’s dreams are crumbling around her. If she doesn’t come up with a plan to save her little teashop on Sweet Street soon, it might be too late…

So when she sees how the perfect apple crumble brings together her lonely father and faithful customer Birdie, inspiration strikes: she’ll set up a dating night involving all her sweetest bakes.

Luckily, seriously gorgeous Caleb is on hand to help sprinkle a little magic – and a lot of sugar! Could one night of scrumptious first dates fix Maddie’s heartbreak and save her beloved teashop, too?

Review: As you can tell from the title, The Little Teashop of Broken Hearts is all about tea, cake and love. The story starts with a broken heart, Maddie's, who after breaking it up with her fiancé decides to finally open her own teashop. The problem is that nobody has noticed it so far so her customers are really scarce. 

What I liked about this story is that it had a very original idea behind the main plot: speed dating with cake. I especially liked the first idea Maddie had, to match people according to their cake choices. But the idea was not as well executed as I first hoped. The story was quite slow, with not many things happening at first, except the fact that the teashop was in trouble. Then the idea of speed dating came up and again, there was a lot of talking but not a lot of action and when it finally happened, it was done and dusted quite quickly.

I was also a bit in two minds about the characters. Some of them I really liked, like Maddie, Mags or Caleb but then there were a few characters that got a lot of mentions in the story but nothing really happened with them, like the couple that worked next door, George and Rehana or Maddie's ex-best friend. I think there was no need to add them, as there were enough main characters with their own stories and problems. 

This doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy reading this book. It actually made me smile a lot and it's quite an easy read to enjoy this summer. Especially if you enjoy cake and sweet treats as it's full of ideas and descriptions that had my mouth watering the whole time. I'm sure I'll try my hand at baking more than one of the treats mentioned. 

Rating: 3 stars

I would like to thank the publishers for sending me a copy of this book via NetGalley. This is my honest opinion.

By now I know that every Paige Toon book is a winner so I always look forward to her new releases with a lot of excitement. As soon as she announced The Last Piece of My Heart, I knew it was going to be a special story and I was not wrong. Here are my thoughts:

Title: The Last Piece of My Heart

Author: Paige Toon

Published: May 18th by Simon & Schuster

Amazon | Amazon UK

Blurb: Meet Bridget, a successful travel journalist with ambitions to turn her quirky relationship blog into a novel. But, after numerous rejections from publishers, she accepts an alternative proposition: Nicole Dupre died leaving behind a bestselling novel and an incomplete sequel, and the family need someone to finish it. Bridget is just thankful to have her foot in the publishing door. But as she gets to know Nicole’s grieving family, and the woman behind the writing, Bridget’s priorities begin to change...

Review: When I first discovered Paige Toon a few years ago, I was completely captivated by her love stories and she soon became one of my favorite authors. But in her last few books she has reached a new level, her stories are always something special, full of heart, with incredible settings and complex characters that feel absolutely real. And The Last Piece of My Heart is the perfect example of this. 

Reading the blurb, I thought I could guess more or less what the story was going to be about but after a few pages I realized that I had had no idea, this story was really well crafted, with a lot of surprises and it captured me immediately. I felt an instant connection to Bridget (it helps that we already knew her from previous books) and I loved getting to know her. She found herself in a really difficult situation, trying to write somebody's else book, a book that thousands of readers were waiting for. Especially as she was requested to write it from the late author's place, where her family still lived. 

This experience was definitely a journey of self-discovery for Bridget. With every new day she realized that she was not living the life she really wanted to live. And soon her big relationship blog project didn't seem that important any more. And with every chapter I liked her more and more, I was really rooting for her for the whole book, especially as she showed how a strong and brave woman she was, facing her feeling and risking everything for what really mattered. 

Bridget will be a very difficult character to forget and her story will stay with me for a long time. Paige Toon has written, once again, a story like no other. It made me cry, it made me laugh, but above all, it made me care for these characters. I hope we get a glimpse of their lives in some future book.

Rating: 5 stars

Today I'm reviewing Rowan Coleman's latest book, The Summer of Impossible Things. This beautiful and magical story is out later this month and it's unmissable. Read my thoughts here:

Title: The Summer of Impossible Things

Author: Rowan Coleman

Published: June 29th 2017 by Ebury Press

Amazon | Amazon UK

Blurb: If you could change the past, would you?

Thirty years ago, something terrible happened to Luna’s mother. Something she’s only prepared to reveal after her death. 

Now Luna and her sister have a chance to go back to their mother’s birthplace and settle her affairs. But in Brooklyn they find more questions than answers, until something impossible – magical – happens to Luna, and she meets her mother as a young woman back in the summer of 1977. 

At first Luna’s thinks she’s going crazy, but if she can truly travel back in time, she can change things. But in doing anything – everything – to save her mother’s life, will she have to sacrifice her own?

Review: Let me start saying what a well crafted and magical story this is. It left me completely in awe, as it's like nothing I had read before. Rowan Coleman makes you believe that the impossible is possible and takes you in a journey like no other.

In the book, we follow Luna and her sister to Brooklyn after their mother's death, where they hope they will be able to understand her and her decisions better. And they are not wrong, as soon as they arrive, their connection to her intensifies, especially for Luna. For some inexplicable reason, she discovers that she is able to travel to 1977, the year that changed their mother's life forever. As you can imagine, Luna feels that she needs to change the past. But what consequences would it have in the present?

I had a great time following Luna in her adventures. She was a really easy character to love, full of heart and determination. And I loved discovering the seventies through her eyes. I could easily picture a disco obsessed Brooklyn getting ready for the release of Saturday Night Fever, the movie that would put them on the map. Luna's mother back then was also a force to be reckoned with, with a bright future in front of here. So I couldn't stop wondering, just as Luna, what had happened to her. 

This is definitely a story that I want to read again, to enjoy every little detail. Actually, I finished reading it a few weeks ago already and it's still in my head. I suspect this story will stay with me for a long time and I have no doubt it will be one of my books of the year. Seamless writing, engaging characters and an original plot make this story unmissable. So do not hesitate to get a copy this summer. 

Rating: 5 stars

I would like to thank the publisher for sending me a copy of this book via NetGalley. This is my honest opinion.