Chocolate Shoes and Wedding Blues by Trisha Ashley

Bright's Shoes has been a family run shop in Sticklepond for many years.  Aunt Nan at age 92 is planning to pass the shop on to her great neice Tansy.  The shop is getting a bit run down so Tansy decides to give it a new lease of life as a wedding shoe shop and to re-name it Cinderella's Slippers. 

Tansy lives in London with her husband-to-be Justin and visits Aunt Nan each weekend.  Her life becomes complicated by her two step sisters who are always interfering in her relationships, and an old ex-boyfriend who moves into the adjoining cottage to the shoe shop wanting some time of peace and quiet just as Tansy is re-vamping the shop and making a lot of unwelcome noise. 

There are lots of characters in this story who appear in other Trisha Ashley novels which are set in the same village.  

As Tansy does a lot of baking there are a few receipes at the end of the book to try out. 

Springtime at Cherry Tree Cottage by Cathy Woodman

Horse-mad Flick had given up her career to re-train as a farrier.  Her first job is to cover for Mel, who is the blacksmith in Talyton St George, whilst he has a back operation.  She is not well received by a lot of the villagers who all expect a man.  

Robbie Salterton, a very handsome local stunt rider, is on Flick's side and happy for her to deal with his horses.  They become quite friendly, but Robbie has an 8 year old daughter who seems to be standing in the way of there being a chance for them to have a relationship. 

How to Fall in Love by Cecelia Ahern

Christine Rose has accidentally met and talked to a suicidal man who held a gun.  She had talked him into putting it down and had called the police.  He then suddenly picked up the gun again and shot himself.  She knows that she said something wrong to him but can't remember what this is.  

Just a few days later she sees a man on the Ha'penny Bridge in Dublin who is on the wrong side of the railings and is about to jump off.  She talks to him and they agree on a deal, she has 2 weeks until his 35th birthday during which time she has to convince him that life is worth living. 

Christine refers to every self-help book she possibly can so that she can show Adam how to enjoy life and all the things around him.  She also has to help him to win back his girlfriend and work out what to do about the family business he is being forced to take over when this is not what he wants to do.  For 2 weeks they spend almost every minute together and Christine is determined to convince him that he will want to continue to live. 

A Scattering of Daisies by Susan Sallis

This is the first book in the series about the Rising family.

Teenage Will Rising, apprentice tailor, fell in love with Florence.  They married and have children.  Will has set up his own tailoring business and works from their home.   

Florence is a devoted mother to their children and always wants the best for them.  Their eldest daughter March helps out around the house until she finishes school.  The middle daughter May is very like her mother, she is an attractive and sensitive child.  The youngest daughter April is quite spirited.  The eldest son is Albert, when he is old enough he is called up to fight in the first world war.  The youngest child is their son Teddy who is doted on by his mother.  

The family started out in difficult time but as Will gets more work they are able move to a larger house at the end of the road. The story starts in 1902 with the birth of April, the children growing up, the girls' ambitions and first loves and finishes at the end of the war.  

I have already read the second book in this series which is The Daffodils of Newent. 

Unexpected Lessons in Love by Lucy Dillon

In the car, on her way to her wedding, Jeannie begins to panic.  She is struggling to breathe and suddenly feels that everything has moved too fast.  She realises that there are all sorts of things she doesn't know about Dan and she wants to stop the wedding.  

As she is trying to reach Dan on the phone she gets a call from Owen, the best man, to tell her there has been an accident.  Dan has been hit by a bus and is taken to hospital with a head injury.  He remains in a coma. 

Jeannie and Dan had just moved into a house in Longhampton where Dan had taken a job as a vet in the local practice.  Jeannie become friends with Rachel, the vet's wife, and helps her with her dog rescue centre when they suddenly receive in 20 dogs rescued from a puppy farm.  

Jeannie visits Dan at the hospital everyday and is really supportive, but what will happen when he eventually wakes up? Had he listened to her message before the accident? 

The Understudy by David Nicholls

The play 'Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know...' is running at a London West End theatre. Josh Harper, the 12th sexiest man in the world, is playing the lead role of Lord Byron.  Josh seems to have everything he could ever want - fame, fortune, lovely wife, nice house.  

Stephen C McQueen is not so lucky, he gets offered parts to play of dead bodies, passers-by, and a singing squirrel in a childrens educational film. He is the understudy in the play for Josh Harper, but as Josh is never ill the chance for him to get his big break and play the lead role is slim.  

At a party Stephen meets Josh's wife Nora and instanty falls in love with her. 

The Girls by Lisa Jewell

After losing their home and all of their belongings in a house fire, Clare and her two daughters Grace and Pip move into a small flat in Virginia Terrace.  The Terrace, along with Virginia Crescent encircles a large communal garden which is used by all the residents.  

The girls make friends with the other children and they all spend time together in the garden. 

On the evening of the annual garden party Grace is found unconscious in a corner of the garden.  Both the police and some of the residents try to work out what has happened to Grace.  This could be a case of history repeating itself as many years before a young girl was found in the garden and her death was unexplained. 

I See You by Clare Mackintosh

On her way home from work, whilst sitting on a train, Zoe Walker flicks through a London newspaper.  As she gets towards the back, to the classified ads, she sees a photograph of herself.  Next to the photograph there is a telephone number and a website address. 

When she gets home she shows her family who agree the picture looks a lot like her but think it must be someone else.  The phone number is invalid and the website is a blank white page asking for a password.  The next day there is a photograph of another woman in the newspaper with the same phone number and website address.  

A woman is murdered on her way home from work.  Zoe recognises her picture and goes back to the newspaper to check, it is one of the women who has appeared in the classified ad.  

Zoe is worried that she is being followed and her life could be in danger.  When she tries to contact the murder investigation team to tell them about the ads she is frustrated by their initial lack of response.  

This is a great psychological thriller which keeps you guessing right up to the last page.

Where the Truth Lies by MJ Lee

This is the first DI Ridpath crime thriller in a series.  

Ten years after his first arrest, DI Tom Ridpath becomes involved in the investigation of serial killings which have quite a lot of similarities to those seen before, but James Dalbey is still in prison for the murder of Alice Seagram.  

Tom is just returning to work after a period of ill health and is asked to spend 3 months working as the Coroner's Officer before he can return to normal detective work.  As the Coroner's Officer he has to help with investigations and as he looks at the evidence, both past and present, he starts to doubt the earlier conviction as he finds so many flaws.  

On his first day in the new job he oversees the exhumation of Alice Seagram, and when it is discovered that her body is missing he has to go back over the events of 10 years ago to find out what happened to her and where her body could be. 

The body count is growing and, as before, the police are aware of other missing women in the Manchester area who may have been victims of the killer, but their bodies have not turned up.  

When one of their own, DS Sarah Castle, goes missing there is a race to find her before she becomes the next victim. 

Rescue Me by Cathy Bramley

Fearne lived with her brother who has recently been killed in a motorbike accident and she is feeling very sad and alone.  She lives next door to elderly Ethel and her dog Scamp. 

Fearne regularly does bits of shopping for Ethel and takes Scamp out for walks.  She can often be the only person Ethel sees all day.  Ethel is worried about Fearne and also worried about what will happen to Scamp when she is no longer able to take care of him if she has to move into residential care.  She knows that neither her son nor daughter will want to take him in. 

This is a free short story which tells us that "A dog fills a space in your heart you didn't know was there". 

A Place to Call Home by Fay Keenan

Set in the new age town of Willowbury in Somerset, Holly Renton owns and runs a shop called ComInsence which specialises in herbal remedies, wellbeing aids and candles.  She lives in a flat above the shop with her cat Arthur.  

After the sudden death of the local MP, new boy Charlie Thorpe is sent to replace him.  This is Charlie's first seat in the House of Commons and he is determined to work hard for his constituents and to make a difference to their lives.  

Holly's sister Rachel had previously approached the old MP to ask for help in getting a new drug for Cystic Fibrosis available through the NHS but he had not been interested.  Charlie is approached by Rachel and he agrees to help the family with their campaign. 

There are quite a few ups and downs in the relationship between Holly and Charlie, and Charlie has to learn how to undertake his new role as MP and ultimately do the best he can for everyone.  

This was another free Kindle download.  It was a really good story, built around a true event.  This is the first book in a Willowbury series.

Until We Collide by Charlotte Fallowfield

Clumsy and accident prone Paige Taylor sees Alec Wright and falls in love with him.  Paige tries to get noticed by Alec and ends up at the wrong and of Daisy the cow and is covered in cow poo.  A few weeks later Poppie, Paige's best friend, sets up Alec as Paige's date for their graduation night.  All seems to be going well and they arrange to meet again for a date before Alec heads off to start his new job in London as a fashion photographer.  The timing is not right for them as Paige has just been offered a 3 year contract as a nanny with a local family who have to move out to the Grand Cayman.  

On her return, and following a recommendation from Alec, Paige approaches a fashion agency in London and is taken on as a trainee model.  Paige and Poppie end up renting Alec's flat in London whilst he is working away and travelling around the world. 

Over the years every time they bump into each other one of them is in a relationship and so they remain just friends. 

Paige's antics and poor choice of men makes a really humorous story.  

This was a free kindle download.  I really enjoyed the story and will look out for more books by this author.

The Olive Harvest by Carol Drinkwater

This is the third book in the series.  

Carol and Michel have returned to Appassionata after a short absence as they have, separately, been working elsewhere.  On their return they find the farm to have been neglected as Quashia, their farm helper, has been busy starting to build a large structure to use as a shed/workshop.  

Following an accident Michel becomes withdrawn and needs time alone.  He leaves Carol to run the farm.  His business is in trouble and he needs to concentrate on what to do next. 

Carol has to turn the farm around, clear all the overgrown foliage and try to manage the constant devastation by wild boars walking through their land.  To add to all the problems, there are almost no olives on the trees so this year there will be no harvest.  This could be a disaster as the AOC application is still pending.