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08:18

Last year, I shared the perfect books to travel the world from your own couch (check out my Top Holidays Reads of 2016 here) and I really enjoyed putting that list together. This year, I have also read some amazing stories set around the world, so I decided to pick 10 more books for you to discover new places too! If you also love travelling through books, don't miss our route. There's a book for everyone:

Newquay, Cornwall - Visit Cornwall
The Picture House by the Sea: Cornwall, UK
I have just finished this lovely book and although it is set in the fictional Cornish village of Polwhipple, this story captures perfectly the beauty of the Cornish scenery: golden sandy beaches, ice-cream parlours, surfers and a great community spirit. It also mentions real locations like neighbouring town Newquay or the historical Bodmin railway with it murder mystery nights.
Get it now!


Mojácar - Check out Isabelle Broom's webpage for more pics.
Then. Now. Always. : Mojácar, Spain.
A truly special and magical story that will bring lots of sunshine to your life. Mojácar is a little town on the south coast of Spain and a hidden gem full of stories, laughs, love, beautiful views and a bit of magic. I had never heard about it before reading this story, but as usual, Isabelle Broom has convinced me to visit asap.
Read my 5 stars review here | Get it now!


Millau Viaduct, France - Aveyron Tourism
The Legacy of Lucy Harte: South of France
This novel by Emma Heatherington is one of those stories that not only touches you but also inspires you to enjoy life and don't get lost in the minor details and obstacles. It also raises awareness in a very important issue, that is organ donors. And a great part of it is set in the beautiful south of France, with the amazing Millau Viaduct playing a big role. 
Read my 4 stars review here | Get it now!

Ponte Veccio, Florence - Slow Europe


Love and Gelato: Tuscany, Italy.
This is a very heart-warming and fun story by debut author Jenna Evans Welch that will make you want to take the first plane to Italy. The characters are very well developed and interesting and thanks to them we get to discover the beautiful Tuscany and the stunning Florence. Reading about their adventures in the north of Italy is a real treat and you really feel like you are there with them.
Read my 5 stars review here | Get it now!

Chandelao Garh, India - Dinah Jefferies
Before the Rains: Rajputana, India
If you also love travelling through time, then you'll love Dinah Jefferies' new book. With Before the Rains she takes us to India in the twenties. With her generous and mesmerising descriptions, it's easy to picture that era, with its rich royal families and water palaces, all contrasting with the extreme poverty of its people. A mesmerising read.
Read my 5 stars review here | Get it now!


Nepal - Getaway Trekking
The Lie: Nepal
If you are looking for a darker read but you still want to explore a new country, then this is perfect for you. With a really face paced and descriptive narrative, C.L. Taylor takes you in a dark and scary journey to Nepal. As you read (a better way to put it would be devour) this thriller, you soon realise that you have no idea what is going to happen next, and even less who you can trust.
Read my 5 stars review here | Get it now!

Check Paige Toon Instagram account for more pics related to the story
The Last Piece of My Heart: Cornwall, UK & Thailand
With Paige Toon's latest book, we get to visit not only one destination but two! Half the book is set in beautiful Cornwall and a very important part is set in stunning Thailand. Perfect, isn't it? Plus, this book and its characters are brilliant. A story like no other. It made me cry, it made me laugh, but above all, it made me care.
Read my 5 stars review here | Get it now!


Patagonian Jungle - Rock the Traveller
Destination Chile: Chile.
This is the third book in The Lonely Hearts Travel Club Series and after loving Georgia's adventures in Thailand and in India, I was really looking forwards to joining her in her new adventure. Katy Colins does a great job describing this new place to us. She has a special way of making you picture yourself there, walking in the streets of Santiago or taking selfies with a llama. She certainly knows how to spark my wanderlust.
Read my 5 stars review here | Get it now!

The first time I went up The Top of the Rock, I fell a bit in love with this city.
Big Sexy Love: New York, USA.
We couldn't miss NYC in our tour around the world, could we? It's one of my favourite cities in the world and I love revisiting it through books. In Kirsty Greenwood's new book, we follow Olive around New York, and it is difficult, if not impossible, not to fall in love with her and her sense of humour as she manages to find herself in the most absurd situations. Seriously, you will laugh until you cry.
Read my 5 stars review here | Get it now! 


The Hamptons - Urlaubguru
Holiday in the Hamptons: The Hamptons, USA.
And after stopping at NYC, we couldn't miss the number one holidays destination for New Yorkers, the Hamptons. In Sarah Morgan's latest, I loved discovering a bit more about this place. For me, it is just a summer destination for the rich but we soon discover that this place has a really nice community atmosphere and that people care about each other.
Read my 4 stars review here | Get it now! 


08:00


A while back I received this book on the post and it came with a letter from the author, Poorna Bell. I had a feeling from the beginning that this was going to be a very special book, and I was not wrong: 

Title: Chase the Rainbow
Author: Poorna Bell
Published: May 4th 2017 by Simon & Schuster 
Amazon | Amazon UK


Blurb: An honest yet uplifting account of a woman's life affected (but not defined) by the suicide of her husband and the deadly paradox of modern-day masculinity.

Punk rocker, bird nerd and book lover Rob Bell had a full, happy life. He had a loving wife, a big-bottomed dog named Daisy and a career as a respected science journalist. But beneath the carefully cultivated air of machoism and the need to help other people, he struggled with mental health and a drug addiction that began as a means to self-medicate his illness. In 2015, he ended his life in New Zealand on a winter’s night. 

But what happened? How did a middle-class Catholic boy from the suburbs, who had an ocean of people who loved him, and a brain the size of a planet, end up dying alone by his own hand? How did it get to this point? 

In the search to find out about the man she loved, and how he arrived at that desperate, dark moment, Poorna Bell, Executive Editor of The Huffington Post UK, went on a journey spanning New Zealand, India and England to discover more about him.

A month after his death, she shared her personal tragedy in an open letter to Rob on the site, which went on to be read by hundreds of thousands of people across the world. This is Poorna’s story, not only of how she met the man of her dreams and fell in love, but also Rob’s story and how he suffered with depression since childhood and had secretly been battling addiction as a means to cope with the illness.

Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 45 and a staggering 1 in 4 of us will experience mental illness disease at some point in our lives, but the stigma surrounding mental health means that millions still suffer in silence.

Chase the Rainbow is an affecting, poetic, and deeply personal journey which teaches to seek hope and happiness, even in the most tragic of circumstances. Shattering the stigma surrounding depression and suicide, Poorna Bell challenges us talk about what we most fear, and to better understand the personal struggles of those closest to us.


Review: As soon as I read the blurb for this book, I knew this was going to be a very special story. And I was not wrong. Poorna Bell holds nothing back as she tells us about her story and her husband's. A story of battling depression and drug addiction, a story of love, a story of grief, but above all, a story that reminds us how important and necessary it is to talk about mental health and suicide openly. 

A really raw and honest writing captures you from page one. As Poorna meets Rob, everything seems to finally click for them. It makes you forget for a bit that there won't be a happy ending for them. But soon Poorna slowly uncovers all the secrets and lies Rob told her. Lies that completely broke her heart and even broke mine a little. I cannot even imagine what they must have gone through but unfortunately, for many people, their story will resonate.That's why I think this book is so important. It teaches the reader a lot, not only about depression and addiction but also how mental health is still a taboo in our society and why this is so wrong.

I found it really interesting how Poorna Bell has extensively researched these topics and has intertwined the opinion of experts and her own opinions and finding with her narrative. I was never bored with it, quite the contrary, it has left me wanting to know more and talk more. 

But above all, this is a stunning book. It's incredible sad but also uplifting. A book that will leave no one indifferent and I hope it reaches many many readers. A highly recommended read. 

Rating: 5 stars

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

09:28

Mary Kubica has just released her latest psychological thriller, Every Last Lie, an electrifying and addictive read that will have you hooked from page one. Here is my review:


Title: Every Last Lie
Author: Mary Kubica
Published: August 10th 2017 by HQ Stories
Amazon | Amazon UK


Blurb: She always trusted her husband…Until he died.

Clara Solberg’s world shatters when her husband and four-year-old daughter are in a car crash, killing Nick while Maisie is remarkably unharmed.

But when Maisie starts having nightmares, Clara becomes obsessed that Nick’s death was far more than just an accident.

Who wanted Nick dead? And, more importantly, why? Clara will stop at nothing to find out the truth – even if it makes her question whether her entire marriage has been a lie…



Review: Whenever I think of psychological thrillers, one of the first names that comes to my mind is Mary Kubica. So as you can imagine, the expectations are always high whenever she releases a new book. With Every Last Lie, she doesn't disappoint at all though. The premise for this story is quite straight forward. Clara Solberg has just lost her husband to a car accident and she is struggling to cope with her young daughter and baby son. But when she starts suspecting that the car accident was actually not an accident, everything starts complicating. Fast.

Every Last Lie is definitely a story that messes with your head. The main character, Clara, is clearly still in shock and with every page, her narrative turns less reliable and messier. It's sometimes difficult to follow her train of thought but she is a woman with a mission and it's difficult to get away from her story. I wanted to know more, I wanted to know it all at once, but Mary Kubica cleverly revealed a tiny bit of new information every few pages so I was hooked from early on until the very end of the story.

Clara was not the only narrator though. Thanks to flashbacks, we get to know her late husband, who starts like a pretty cool and caring dad but as we get to know him, we soon discover he had created a huge mess around him and was trying and failing to keep afloat in a sinking boat. 

The most tense scenes for me were definitely the ones with their daughter, Maisie. She was at the car accident with her dad but her recollection of it doesn't provide Clara with the answers she wants. Until something triggers certain memories in her head... making Clara's quest more complicated and desperate. 

Every Last Lie is a story full of secrets, twists, desperation, grief and lies. It's a story very difficult to put down. As a reader, you want to know every last lie and until past and present collide it is almost impossible to guess what is lie and what is true. A clever read that I recommend to every reader.



Rating: 4 stars

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


Have you missed any of the stops on the Blog Tour? Here they are:

         

07:51


Today I'm very excited to welcome Penny Parkes to the blog. She is the author of the warm and lovely read Out of Practice and its sequel Practice Makes Perfect, which was released this summer. 

Hi Penny and welcome to Alba in Bookland again. First of all, congratulations on winning the Romantic Comedy of the Year category of the RNA Awards. What did winning this award mean to you?

Thank you so much for having me, Alba – the RoNAs was a fabulous evening and it was a wonderful surprise to actually win! It was also particularly special to be honoured by the RNA, as I have been lucky enough to meet so many inspirational writers through their events, amongst them now some true friends – holding my hand both literally and metaphorically at times on my path to publication! And of course, we have the inimitable Katie Fforde to blame for me being published at all, after some very spot-on advice at the Cheltenham Festival a few years ago.

Now, could you tell us about your latest release, Practice Makes Perfect?

Well, Practice Makes Perfect gives us an opportunity to sneak even further behind the scenes of The Practice at Larkford – lots more dishy doctors, dogs and devilment. And there’s a whole new partnership structure in place – 4 partners, 2 couples – and the boundaries between personal and professional ever more blurry.

On the surface it might seem like the perfect situation and the powers-that-be certainly think so, because they’ve now nominated Larkford as a Model Practice. But, as we all know, if you shine a spotlight on things, it does rather tend to emphasise the flaws

A few unexpected visitors throw everything out of balance, even as they give us a little more insight into our doctors’ backgrounds. 

I’m hope it will be like visiting old friends for those returning to the series and a wonderfully rural escapade for those new to the Larkford Valley.

What is new in Practice Makes Perfect? Are there new characters, new settings, new pets?

The major new addition to the team comes in the form of Dr Alice Walker, a breath of fresh Scottish air. She brings with her Coco the cocker spaniel – her diabetes medical detection dog – who has completely stolen not only my heart, but also that of Eric the Labradoodle!

If you could switch places for a day with one of the characters in the story, which one would you pick and why?

Oh, it would have to be Dr Holly Graham – I’m not sure how I’d cope with juggling twins, but I’d happily spend some quality time with Taffy Jones!

How does your writing process go? Do you plan everything first or you just start writing and let your characters talk to you? 

It’s a combination of the two, to be honest – rather depending on where I am in the process. I start out with a few themes and concepts, not to mention some milestone events. With the first draft, I prefer to let things flow, as writing to a plan actually stifles the characters’ developments for me. The structure tends to fall into place with the editing.

Could you recommend us a novel that you have read recently and has stayed with you?

The Woman At Number Twenty Four is just wonderful – I dived in one weekend and lived and breathed the goings-on at Number 24 until I came up for air – Juliet Ashton always has such wonderful characterization in her books. Can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.

And finally, are you already working on a new project? Will we get more Larkford stories? 

I’m actually back in Larkford right now, pulling together some really special plotlines for the next visit in Summer 2018. It’s rather wonderful spending time with my characters again, and seeing what they’re up to!

I'm so happy to hear this, Penny! Thank you so much for stopping by!

About the Book: 

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.
Click here to read my book review for this lovely read!

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