Bargain Read: The Beach Cafe - Lucy Diamond

Evie Flynn has always been the black sheep of her family - a dreamer and a drifter, unlike her over-achieving elder sisters. She's tried making a name for herself as an actress, a photographer and a singer, but nothing has ever worked out. Now she's stuck in temp hell, with a sensible, pension-planning boyfriend. Somehow life seems to be passing her by. Then her beloved aunt Jo dies suddenly in a car crash, leaving Evie an unusual legacy - her precious beach cafe in Cornwall. Determined to make a success of something for the first time in her life, Evie heads off to Cornwall to get the cafe and her life back on track - and gets more than she bargained for, both in work and in love...

At this very moment I have a cold and Scotland has well and truly entered autumn, in a desperate attempt to ignore anything festive beginning with the letter 'C' I decided I'd delve into my first Lucy Diamond and reach for a little bit of sun.

Review: The Country Escape - Fiona Walker*

Hidden amid lush Herefordshire parkland, Eardisford is the ultimate English country retreat and it's just been sold for the first time in its history. Romantic daredevil Kat Mason has been bequeathed the estate's lakeside sanctuary, Lake Farm, until she dies or marries. But the new owners want her out now . . .  

In rides charming playboy Dougie Everett, the man hired to sweep Kat off her feet and off the property. Although pursuing the Hollywood dream has not been all he'd hoped, Dougie loves nothing more than the thrill of the chase, but does he risk losing his heart along the way?

Anyone who's been reading my blog for a while will know that Fiona Walker was one of the first romance authors I read and her books hold a special place in my heart (if you missed this you can read those posts here and here). You can imagine my excitement when I received an advanced copy of Walker's latest.

Review: Little Beach Street Bakery - Jenny Colgan

Polly Waterford is recovering from a toxic relationship. Unable to afford their townhouse, she has to move miles away from everyone, to the sleepy little seaside resort of Polbearne, where she lives alone above an abandoned shop.

And so Polly takes out her frustrations on her favourite hobby: making bread. But what was previously a weekend diversion suddenly becomes far more important as she pours her emotions into kneading and pounding the dough, and each loaf becomes better and better. With nuts and seeds, olives and chorizo, with local honey (courtesy of local bee keeper, Huckle), and with reserves of determination and creativity Polly never knew she had, she bakes and bakes and bakes . . . And people start to hear about it.

Sometimes, bread really is life . . . And Polly is about to reclaim hers.

Having recently rediscovered Colgan I've been eagerly anticipating her latest for some time now. This Easter gave me the perfect opportunity to take some time off, lock myself away and completely devour Little Beach Street Bakery (and a packet of hot cross buns...).

Mini-view: Just a Girl, Standing in Front of a Boy - Lucy-Anne Holmes

'My love story may not be the sort you read about in books or see in films . . . Love stories have glorious highs and ghastly lows. But when it comes to my own life, I'd have to say, you can keep your fabulous highs and I'll happily steer clear of the terrible lows.' 

After a rocky start in life, Jenny Taylor, 27, star receptionist at the local doctors surgery, has things all worked out thanks to 'The Smiling Fanny Manifesto' - a list of 10 daily things she must do to keep the blues at bay. But her life is turned upside down when she meets aspiring musician Joe King. And reliable boyfriend Matt proposes. And then her mum leaves her dad and moves into Jenny's flat determined to 'bond'. 

I recently had the pleasure of seeing Lucy-Anne speak about her No More Page 3 campaign at the University of Edinburgh. A highly skilled and charming speaker I was instantly compelled to seek out one of her novels and the library happily obliged with a copy of Just a Girl sitting there right on the shelf, for little old me.

Review: It Felt Like a Kiss - Sarra Manning

Ellie manages a swank Mayfair gallery, but it’s her life that’s a real work of art. Great job, really good hair, loyal friends, loving family. It’s only her succession of lame duck boyfriends that ruin the picture. 

Oh, and the world-famous rock-star father she’s never met, who won’t even acknowledge her existence. 

Then Ellie’s perfect life is smashed to pieces when her secret is sold to the highest bidder and her name, face (and pictures of her bottom) are splashed across the tabloids. Suddenly everyone thinks she’s a gold-digging, sex-crazy, famewhore. 

Enter David Gold. Charming and handsome David Gold. On paper he’s even more perfect than Ellie, if only he wasn’t her father’s ruthlessly ambitious lawyer whose job is to manage the crisis – and her. He certainly doesn’t think that Ellie’s the innocent party and she doesn’t trust him at all. So why is it that every time they’re alone together, damage limitation is the last thing on their minds?

New favourite author alert! Brit-lit (as I like to call it) has been going from strength to strength recently and I am so pleased to be discovering new authors to add to my hallowed hall of "favourite reads". Whilst Sarra Manning isn't a new author, she's new to me and I love finding someone that I love who has a whole back catalogue for me to devour.

Review: This is a Love Story - Jessica Thompson

This is a love story. 

Boy meets girl and girl falls for boy - that much is true.

But when Sienna meets Nick it's not the way it happens in love stories. It's because of a squirrel on water skis... 

She sees Nick's dangerous brown eyes and thinks, 

Don't.

Fall. 

Into. 

Them. 

Who will be there to catch Siena when she falls? She is so fragile. She has so many secrets, and he is not that serious.

Funny and sad, this is the story of two people destined never to come together in the great love affair they crave more than anything else.

Have you ever started a book and just known that you won't be able to go to sleep until you know the fate of all those involved? It can't just be me surely. This is a Love Story was started innocently enough in the evening as a little wind-down before bed and wasn't put down until 4am when I was bleary eyed but safe in the knowledge that I'd reached the conclusion and knew that all was as it should be.

Review: You Had Me at Hello - Mhairi McFarlane

What happens when the one that got away comes back? 

Rachel and Ben. Ben and Rachel. It was them against the world. Until it all fell apart. 

It’s been a decade since they last spoke, but when Rachel bumps into Ben one rainy day, the years melt away. 

From the moment they met they’d been a gang of two; partners in crime and the best of friends. But life has moved on. Ben is married. Rachel is definitely not. In fact, the men in her life make her want to take holy orders… 

Yet in that split second, Rachel feels the old friendship return. And along with it, the broken heart she’s never been able to mend.

 It took me forever to get a hold of You Had Me At Hello, I was on the waiting list at the library (patronise your libraries people!) for over five weeks. Any book commanding this amount of attention six months after its release surely had to be read.