Skywatch Friday

Cute new beach huts down at Findhorn. Yours for a mere £25k!

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It's Monday. What Are You Reading?

Two books as usual.

I'm reading The Butterfly Summer by Harris Evans. This is a real slow burner but the story is starting to pick up.

What magic is this?

You follow the hidden creek towards a long-forgotten house.

They call it Keepsake, a place full of wonder . . . and danger. Locked inside the crumbling elegance of its walls lies the story of the Butterfly Summer, a story you've been waiting all your life to hear.

This house is Nina Parr's birthright. It holds the truth about her family - and a chance to put everything right at last.

I am also reading Honeymoon Suite by Wendy Holden. It's been a while since I read one of her books - from memory I didn't enjoy the last one. But could not resist such a beautiful cover.

When Nell is marooned at the altar, her feisty best friend Rachel says she'll come with her on honeymoon instead. Why waste a week in a posh country hotel?

So the duo, plus Rachel's Agatha Christie-obsessed small daughter Juno, head for the hills and idyllic Edenville, on the edge of the beautiful Pemberton estate. Awaiting them is a cast of colourful characters from Jason the harassed hotel manager to the ruthless Angela, Director of HR. Not to mention the handsome Dylan, a bestselling writer on the run from his past.

Nell doesn't want to go back to London, so when a job on the estate comes up, she's happy to stay. Even if it is arranging weddings in the Big House! As she becomes entangled in the lives of the locals - and they weave their way into her heart - she realises there might be a way to reach the rainbow's end after all

Please pop over to the Book Date to see what everyone else is reading today.

Skywatch Friday

Sunshine. Hailstones. And rainbows. Had a lovely walk after work.

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It's Monday. What Are You Reading?

Not one.  Not two.  But three books on the go this week.

I am reading Anyway You Want Me by Lucy Diamond. So far there isn't a redeemable character in sight - but I am really enjoying it. A perfect light read.

On paper, Sadie's got it all - the partner, the children, the house. But in real life, that doesn't feel quite enough. Sadie can't help harking back to the time when she was a career woman by day and a party animal by night. And what happened to feeling like a sex kitten, anyway? The only sleepless nights she's getting now are due to the baby. Maybe a little reinvention is the answer . . .

Sadie can't resist creating a fictitious online identity for herself as a hot TV producer. It's only a bit of harmless fun . . . until truth and fantasy become dangerously tangled. It isn't long before she's wondering if the exciting alter ego she has dreamed up really is the kind of person she wants to be after all . . .

Slightly darker is The Woman In Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. Set aboard a luxury boat mysterious things are happening but it is all in her imagination?

This was meant to be the perfect trip. The Northern Lights. A luxury press launch on a boutique cruise ship.

A chance for travel journalist Lo Blacklock to recover from a traumatic break-in that has left her on the verge of collapse.

Except things don't go as planned.

Woken in the night by screams, Lo rushes to her window to see a body thrown overboard from the next door cabin. But the records show that no-one ever checked into that cabin, and no passengers are missing from the boat.

Exhausted and emotional, Lo has to face the fact that she may have made a mistake – either that, or she is now trapped on a boat with a murderer...

Lastly I'm reading Meet Me At Willoughby Close which was sent to me by the lovely author Kate Hewitt. It is the second in a series but I think it works well as a stand alone book too.

Ellie Matthews has come to Wychwood-on-Lea to find a new start for her and her daughter Abby. But, life there doesn’t start out as idyllic as she had hoped. While Ellie loves her cute cottage in Willoughby Close, the Yummy Mummies at the primary school seem intent on giving her the cold shoulder, Abby has trouble fitting in, and her boss, Oliver Venables, is both surprisingly sexy and irritatingly inscrutable.

But miracles can happen in the most unexpected places, and in small, yet wonderful ways. Slowly, Ellie and Abby find themselves making friends and experiencing the everyday magic of Willoughby Close. When Oliver’s nephew, Tobias, befriends Abby, the four of them start to feel like family… and Ellie begins to see the kindness and warmth beneath Oliver’s chilly exterior, which awakens both her longing and fear.

Ellie knows all about disappointment, and the pain of trying too hard for nothing, while Oliver has his own hurts and secrets to deal with. When the past comes rollicking back to remind both of them of their weaknesses and failings, will they be able to overcome their fears and find their own happy ending?

Please pop over to the Book Date to see what everyone else is reading today.

It's Monday. What Are You Reading?

I know it's March but I'm reading a Christmas book although in my defense it isn't an overly festive tale so far. It is Make A Christmas Wish by Julia Williams.

Last Christmas, when Livvy was knocked down in the supermarket car park she certainly wasn’t ready to actually be dead! For months now she’s floated on the edge of the afterlife, generally making a nuisance of herself.


And she’s not ready to go just yet! She’s furious about the new woman in her husband’s life and she’s worried about her beloved son who doesn’t seem to be adjusting to life without her at all.


This Christmas, Livvy is given one last magical chance to make everything right. Will she take it and give her family the perfect Christmas?

I am also reading Who Does He Think He Is? by Emily Kerr. This is a proper chick lit romp - perfect light reading.

Lady Aurelia Osbourne-Lloyd has long wished her bank balance was as big as her name. But her home, Leydale Park, is more of a pile in a state than stately pile, and with her father off ‘finding himself’ in Thailand, it’s up to her to turn the family fortunes around by entertaining demanding tourists.

When – thanks to her father’s interference – a Hollywood production company chooses the estate as a location for a Regency movie, a whole new level of chaos enters Aurelia’s life. Her quiet days shattered and privacy non-existent, she has no choice but to go with the flow and let them take over.

Never mind the added distraction of dishy leading man, Xander Lord, who may have an ulterior motive for wanting to get close to her…

Can Aurelia keep her cool in light of all the upheaval?

Please pop over to the Book Date to see what everyone else is reading today.

Skywatch Friday

Cold beach stroll - love the mountain across the Moray Firth.

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Skywatch Friday

Another photo taken with my phone whilst out running. 10k down a local cycle path on a beautiful clear and cold Sunday morning.

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