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.

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.

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. 

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

The first time I went up The Top of the Rock, I fell a bit in love with this city.

The Hamptons - Urlaubguru

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.

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

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

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: 

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