With or Without You by Shari Low

Blog Tour

Have you ever made a life-changing decision and then wondered if you made the right one…?

When Liv and Nate walked up the aisle, Liv knew she was marrying the one, her soul mate and her best friend. 
Six years later, it feels like routine and friendship is all they have left in common. What happened to the fun, the excitement, the lust, the love? 

In the closing moments of 1999, Liv and Nate decide to go their separate ways, but at the last minute, Liv wavers. Should she stay or should she go?

Over the next twenty years we follow the parallel stories to discover if Liv’s life, heart and future have been better with Nate… Or without him?

Chells and Books Review:

I would like tot thank Aria for sending me the paper back and organising the blog tour for With or Without You.

We all make choices in life and the main idea running through the plot in With or Without You is what would or could have been? I lovely idea for s story and a romance.

I adored meeting all the characters and loved Sasha. I found it interesting how the story is told through two perspectives, with and without. You find elements of the story out before certain things had happened but it did not take anything away from the story. It is written so well.

Perfect for anyone who loves a good romance.

About the author:

Shari Low is the No1 best-selling author of over 20 novels, including With Or Without You, Another Day In Winter, One Day In December, A Life Without You and The Story Of Our Life. And because she likes to over-share toe-curling moments and hapless disasters, she is also the shameless mother behind a collection of parenthood memories called Because Mummy Said So. Once upon a time she met a guy, got engaged after a week, and twenty-something years later she lives near Glasgow with her husband, a labradoodle, and two teenagers who think she’s fairly embarrassing except when they need a lift. 

Follow Shari:  

Twitter: @sharilow

Facebook: @sharilowbooks

Website: sharilow.com

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Written From the Heart by Trisha Ashley

Review

Tina Devino makes more money teaching people to write than writing herself. A middling romance novelist who dreams of penning a bestseller, she’s increasingly forced to compete with younger, blonder debut authors for her publisher and agent’s attention.

Feeling forgotten, Tina realises the only way up is to take her career and destiny in hand and build her own happy ending; which is perfect because, for a romance writer, Tina isn’t the most traditional of women… Although she does see her long term partner lover friend, Sergei, once a week which is ‘quite enough, thank you very much’. But her uncomplicated love life might soon need some unravelling when a mysterious Tube Man, unwelcome ex-husband and a shadowy figure in a butterfly mask waltz into the picture.

Only Tina can work through the drama and claim the life she’s always wanted… but will she succeed?

Previously published in 2008 as ‘Happy Endings.

Chells and Books Review:

This is Trisha Ashley at her best. I absolutely loved Written from the Heart.

Tina is a character you cannot help but love. A writer who has had some success but is not yet a bestseller is working towards that goal. Her life is one that is solitary and that is how she wants it to stay. She has her country cottage and a boyfriend/friend she sees once a week and best friend. However, when she begins to let others in and her life begins to change but not all for the best.

I adore Trisha’s style of writing. One minute it has you feeling sad for a character and the next you are laughing out loud. Written from the Heart is told from Tina’s point of view and I really enjoy reading a story like that.

Trisha Ashley is an incredible story teller and I cannot wait for her new book out later this year.

Sorry Not Sorry by Sophie Ranald

Blog Tour

Is this all there is? I hadn’t had so much as a sniff of a shag for over a year. I scraped the last dregs of Caramel Chew Chew ice cream out of the bottom of the tub with my finger and licked it. It left a sticky smear on my phone’s screen when I typed into Google, “How to find love, sex and happiness.”

Charlotte has always been a good girl.

She sorts her paper from her plastic. She eats her greens (even Spirulina, whatever that is). Boozy brunches with her best friends on the third Sunday of every month are about as bad as she gets.

But being good is getting boring…

Charlotte’s not just stuck in a rut – she’s buried in it up to her chin. The only company she has in bed is the back catalogue of Netflix and falling in love feels like the stuff of fairy tales. So when she stumbles across a popular podcast, Sorry Not Sorry, which challenges women to embrace their inner bad girl, she jumps at the chance to shake things up.

Old Charlotte would never ask for a stranger’s number, go on a blind date or buy lacy lingerie… But New Charlotte is waving goodbye to her comfort zone (with a side order of margaritas). And it turns out that good things happen to bad girls, as Charlotte finally finds her Mr Right – or so she thinks… Is falling in love too tough a challenge even for Charlotte?

Chells and Books Review:

I would like to thank Bookouture for asking me to review this book and organising the blog tour.

This is a delightful chic lit that I found to be a nice light relief from the books I have read recently. However, I did find it a little difficult to get into but once I had it was good and funny in places. Charlotte has realised that she has bee hardworking and good for far to long and finds her life is a little on the boring side. When she finds a podcast called Sorry Not Sorry she decides to change things up. Each chapter begins with the podcast and as the story develops so does Charlotte.

Sorry Not Sorry is a good read and perfect for when you need a light read.

About the author:

Sophie Ranald is the youngest of five sisters. She was born in Zimbabwe and lived in South Africa until an acute case of itchy feet brought her to London in her mid-20s. As an editor for a customer publishing agency, Sophie developed her fiction-writing skills describing holidays to places she’d never visited. In 2011, she decided to disregard all the good advice given to aspiring novelists and attempt to write full-time. After one false start, It Would Be Wrong to Steal My Sister’s Boyfriend (Wouldn’t It?) seemed to write itself. Her second, third and fourth novels followed, and The Truth About Gemma Grey was released in summer 2017. Sophie also writes for magazines and online about food, fashion, finance and running. She lives in south-east London with her amazing partner Hopi and Purrs, their adorable little cat. 

Summer on the Italian Lake by Lucy Coleman

Blog Tour

The feel-good read of 2019, perfect for fans of Lucy Diamond and Karen Swan

Bestselling Brianna Middleton has won the hearts of millions of readers with her sweeping – and steamy – love stories. But the girl behind the typewriter is struggling…. Not only does she have writer’s block, but she’s a world-famous romance author with zero romance in her own life.

So the opportunity to spend the summer teaching at a writer’s retreat in an idyllic villa on the shores of Lake Garda – owned by superstar author Arran Jamieson – could this be just the thing to fire up Brie’s writing – and romantic – mojo?

Brie’s sun-drenched Italian summer could be the beginning of this writer’s very own happy-ever-after…

Escape the January blues with this sun-drenched, heart-warming story from the bestselling author of Snowflakes Over Holly Cove. What readers are saying about Lucy Coleman…

Chells and Books Review:

Firstly, before I get all excited about this book again I would like to thank Aria for asking me to review Summer on the Italian Lakes and organising the blog tour. I am posting this twice as I am apart of two blog tours for this book and I would like to also thank Rachel Gilbey for organising her blog tour.

Well, where to start on this book. I loved it and totally fell in love with the villa in Italy, especially one certain place but I will not say which area as I felt as a reader it was exciting discovering it for myself, so I will let you do that too. The owner of the villa is not to bad either, he sounds so dreamy. The star of the book has to be Brie though a girl after my own heart. I loved reading her backstory and getting to know her and all about her writing. It was lovely reading about her writing habits.

Brie is struggling! I totally felt for her as someone who has been through a tough time myself and found my self surrounded by chocolate and books without seeing a person for days. Lucy wrote this part of the book with humour mixed in and it was brilliant to read and so realistic. Seeing Brie grow as I read made myself smile with pride. Go Brie! Now, how do I find myself a Villa like there is in the pages of Summer on the Italian Lakes.

An empowering, romantic read full of love, hope and friendship. Lucy Coleman is a dream to read. I love her storytelling.

About the author:

About the author

Lucy lives in the Forest of Dean in the UK with her lovely husband and Bengal cat, Ziggy. Her novels have been short-listed in the UK’s Festival of Romance and the eFestival of Words Book Awards. Lucy won the 2013 UK Festival of Romance: Innovation in Romantic Fiction award.

Follow Lucy:  

Twitter: @LucyColemanAuth

Facebook: @LinnBHaltonAuthor

If You’re Not The One by Laura Briggs

Blog Tour

Natalie isn’t a romantic. She doesn’t believe in true love, or destiny. She thinks that people are just plain lucky if they happen to find someone. It’s coincidence and nothing more.

As a wedding dress designer though, she knows she has to keep these feelings under wraps. Even if she’s suspicious that Harper, the bride she’s working with, might secretly agree with her. Because if Harper admitted she wasn’t sure about love, it might also mean giving up on a millionaire husband-to-be and the lavish island wedding of her dreams.

But, for Natalie, as her feelings develop for both her on-off boyfriend Chad, and for the boy-next-door Brayden, she starts to fear that her heart might not be as immune to love as she claims…

Could love have been there all along? And as the wedding approaches, who will find a happy-ever-after, who will find their way to themselves, and who will get left behind?

Chells and Books Review:

I would like to thank Bookouture and Noelle Holten for asking me to review this book and for arranging the blog tour. The cover of If You’re Not The One is very calm and relaxing to look at and is what I first noticed about the book then I read the blurb…well what can I say, I was hooked.

Working at Wedding Belles a shop were all you wedding needs are met, you would think you would need to be a romantic person who believes in love and all that jazz. Well not for Natalie who does not believe. Her feelings are all over the place and her former colleagues lives are not much better. All three girls have their own emotions and issues to deal with while planning this wedding.

I adore a well written book around a wedding. So many emotions happen around weddings and so much drama. Laura has brought all of this to her story and it really was a delight to read.

A perfect, refreshing read for me.

About the author:

Laura Briggs is the author of several lighthearted romance novels and novellas, including the bestselling Amazon UK series A Wedding in Cornwall. She has a fondness for vintage-style dresses (especially ones with polka dots) and reads everything from Jane Austen to modern day mysteries. When she’s not writing, she enjoys spending time with family, caring for her pets, going to movies and plays, and trying new restaurants.

A Spring Affair by Milly Johnson

Review

When Lou Winter picks up a dog-eared magazine in the dentist’s waiting room and spots an article about clearing clutter, she little realises how it will change her life. What begins as an earnest spring clean soon spirals out of control.

Lou’s loved ones grow disgruntled. Why is clearing out cupboards suddenly more important than making his breakfast, her husband Phil wonders? The truth is, the more rubbish Lou lets go of, the more light and air can get to those painful, closed-up places at the centre of her heart.

Even lovely Tom Broom, the man who delivers Lou’s skips, starts to grow concerned about his sweetest customer. But Lou is a woman on a mission, and not even she knows where it will end . . .

Chells and Books Review:

Well what can I say about this absolute star. I saw this book on a charity shelf on the way out of Tesco and just had to buy it. I started reading while I was waiting for the husband to finish doing something with the car before we went to the airport and had finished it by the time I was in Austria.

I adored the whole concept of the plot although when I clean out a cupboard or the whole kitchen a handsome man doesn’t turn up. Lou is married and her husband Phil is one of those characters that just annoys you right from the start, and although Lou may think everything is OK as her spring clean starts many things begin to happen. A handsome man turns up at her door for a start. Tom Broom mmmmm. I’ll leave that there.

Milly Johnson has written a perfect story about a women who needs to reevaluate her life and find the person she really is and once Lou discovers this her life really can be made of dreams. It made me think about a few things in my life once I closed the last page.

A brilliant read. I need more by Milly Johnson in my life.

The Spark Girl

Review

A knock on the door early one morning wouldn’t normally be cause for concern but it is 1941, Britain is at war, and Kitty Williams’s fiancé Joe is far from home fighting Hitler with the Navy.

As Kitty’s heart is shattered into pieces hearing the news she had been dreading, resolve kicks in and she becomes more determined than ever to do her bit for the war effort.

Signing up to the Women’s Army is just the sort of challenge Kitty needs and on meeting new recruits Mary, Di and Peggy, she is happy to learn that the challenge won’t be a lonely one. But it also won’t be easy and when bombs start to fall on her home town of Coventry, and supposed allies turn against her, Kitty must find the strength she never knew she had to save her family, fix her broken heart and help her country to victory.

Chells and Books Review:

After reading Christmas at Liberty’s I had to read more by Fiona Ford. I took The Spark Girl on holiday to Austria and read it while I sat by the pool. I loved it.

Kitty is the perfect heroine. She is tough and strong minded but also vulnerable and thinks of others before herself. I fell in love with Kitty. After hearing news that no one wants to here when loved ones are at war Kitty decides she has to do more for the war effort. On joining the Women’s Army and trying her luck at being a Spark Girl she meets some amazing friends who bond over their wish to do more for their country.

As the girls open up to each other they really stand together and support each other through some really tough times while training. As the war rages on the girls are in for some horrific times and need each other more than ever. I loved it when Kitty heard from home and adored her best friend from back home.

Fiona created some really good twists and turns in her plot that I really didn’t see coming. I was so absorbed in Kitty that I felt everything she felt and was very surprised when I found her in certain situations. No spoilers here, this is a must read for historical fiction fans! The Spark Girl is part of a saga and is the first one.