A christmas to remember by Jenny Hale

Carrie’s favourite holiday is christmas but this year she can’t celebrate with her own family, because she is working.
She works as a nanny and she really loves her job and gets great pleasure out of the children she cares for, but Carrie has decided she wants to start her own life and to do that it requires her to stop the job she loves, Carrie wants to have a family of her own and there is no way she can do that whilst she is on call 24 hours.
So with her new goal decided she decides that this temporary job over the christmas and new year period will be her last.

Carrie has taken a job as a temporary nanny to two adorable children David and Olivia twins aged four.
When Carrie arrives at the home she finds out that the children are here for the Christmas holidays and have very little contact with their father Adam.
Adam seems to be working all the time this resulting in his children not knowing him and them thinking that is the norm.

Carrie feels there is a spark between her and Adam and Carrie is determined to show Adam what a joy his children are.
Carrie tries to get him more involved in the life of the children, but it comes with mixed results, Carrie is concerned that so many memories that most children have of playing with their dad David and Olivia will miss.She doesn’t want him to miss out on any memories he could share with them.

Adam asks Carrie to get the house ready for Christmas with the children and informs her that his family will be coming to spend Christmas there too.
Carrie comes up with some cunning plans to get Adam involved in getting the house and presents for the children ready.

When Adams family arrive she instantly hits it off with them,they are kind loving and caring and they are also concerned that Adam is missing out on the best years of the children’s lives.

Will Carrie be able to make Adam enjoy his christmas with his children, will she be able to get Adam more involved with David and Olivia?
Will Carrie’s feelings for Adam continue to grow and does Adam feel the same?

Love, lies and lemon cake by Sue Watson

Faye Dobson has been a loving wife who is devoted to her husband and loving mother for 20 years.
When her daughter goes off to university, Faye sees the chance of having some nice quality time with her husband, but recently he would rather be reading a plumbing magazine.
Faye starts to realise that her life is not quite what it has been and everything has all become a bit stale.

Faye comes across a list she made when she was younger. A bit like a bucket list, she called it a “living list”. Within this list were all her hopes and dreams, things Faye wanted to do with her life.
After finding the list she made in her youth she looks to see how much she achieved. Faye is disappointed when she sees that the only things ticked off we’re getting married and becoming a mum.
Faye takes a long hard look at herself and the list, Faye decides that she is fed up of the life she is leading now so after much thinking she decides to leave her husband who rarely pays her any attention, to start a new life and get a few more life experiences ticked off her list.

With Faye starting her new life the last thing she she expected was to develop a crush on a young Australian surfer who works at the deli. There is something about the young man that gets Faye in all of a fluster, even though he is a lot younger than her there is just something that keeps Faye going back for more.
Faye starts getting friendly with the young surfer and she is flattered by how much attention he has paid her in the short time that they’ve known each. It proves how stale her marriage was as she tries to remember the last time her husband paid her any sort of attention.

What will happen to Faye? Will Faye discover a new exciting life just around the corner and will she be alone.
Join Faye as she learns that life can be better if you want it.

The great Christmas knit off

The great christmas knit off by Alexandra Brown

When Sybs gets stood up at the altar not only is that the worst thing that could happen but for the groom to run off with her twin sister!! Sybs is not coping well and her mind is not on the tasks it should be so she turns to the best thing that de stresses her. Knitting. Sybs decides to leave London and head to her best friends pub out in the country but when her car fails to start she decides to catch the train. After all it can’t be too far from the station can it?
Whilst in the village of Tindledale Sybs meets a mix of people including Hettie a sweet old lady who owns a Haberdashery shop in the village but due to poor sales over the last few years the shop may very well have to close down and Hettie may have to sell her shop and home. Sybs comes up with an idea to save the shop and the house, will Sybs plan work with the help from a few of the villagers of course!
Another person that Sybs meets is to her surprise someone she has met before Dr Darcy, a man that she saw on her journey to Tindledale who her lovely dog basil tried to steal a cake from. Sybs is attracted to him with his dark hair and emerald green eyes.
Could Dr Darcy be the man to restore Sybs faith in men and a possible romance.

As christmas gets ever closer Sybs gets told to take some extra time off work so she decides to stay in Tindledale for Christmas and her plans to help Hettie get well underway. Sybs feels really at home in Tindledale and she forms several close friendships and feels so at home there..
During her stay Sybs finds out lots of things about the residents and some secrets of the past.

I throughly enjoyed this book I loved the way the book was written as if Sybs was telling you all about her life and what was going on in it. The book was filled with emotion and humor which kept you glued to the story, very descriptive scenes where you could picture the village and all the shops and people in you head.

A great read weather it be to relax or just to fill your love of reading.

Recipe for Love by Katie Fforde

Zoe Harper wins a place in a cooking competition that is to be filmed and then put on television.
Having arrived at the location early Zoe relaxes for a while before the tasks begin, however her relaxation is cut short when one of the celebrity judges gets his car stuck in a ditch, Zoe helps him and he is impressed with her resourceful thinking, but he assures her it will not influence him on judging her.

This story is mainly set in a large country house owned by Fenella and Rupert.
Fenella is finding it all very hard as she is heavily pregnant and Rupert is working away, as Zoe is early at the house and the first contestant there she offers her help to a reluctant Fenella.

Zoe’s dream is to win the competition and open a deli or bistro, but there is going to be some tough competition from the other contestants, one of them being Cher who is only in it to win it.
Cher is not interested in the cooking she just wants the fame and fortune.
Cher seems to be causing trouble trying to get Zoe lower marks or even disqualified from the competition.

There are many tasks that will stretch the contestants and as well as the tasks Zoe offers her help to Fenella and Rupert but she must be careful as if she is found out she will be out of the competition.

As well as the cooking tasks what other challenges face Zoe?
Could one of those challenges be love?
Who will win this competition?

I loved this book and found it very hard to put down.
I got hooked on Katie Fforde’s books about four years ago and each time a new book is due for release I am counting down the days.
Katie’s books reflect real life as well as being a great story, there is always something you can relate to.