Blog Tour: The Little Provence Book Shop by Gillian Harvey

I am a big fan of Gillian Harvey's books. I love how her passion for France shines through, whih really isn't surprising given that she lived there for years. I pick each one up with a great sense of anticipation, and this one was no different, although the story itself almost felt a bit different - almost sprinkled with fairy dust.

When Adeline and her young daughter Lili move to a small village in Provence, it is almost like fate played a hand. Adeline has recently learned something about herself that has changed the way she feels about her remaining family. She sees an ad in a paper for someone to work in a bookstore and before she knows it, the job is hers.

The bookstore owner is Monique, a woman who has a reputation for being a little bit "witchy", for want of a better word. She believes in gemstones and old wives tales, and she has the uncanny ability of being able to pick exactly the book that her customers need, even if they don't know they need it themselves. And she believes that Adeline has that exact same ability.

It is no surprise that Adeline moves to Provence, and soon she is looking to find the truth about her own identity, but along the way she has to question if making such an impulsive move was actually a good idea both for her daughter and for herself.  Meanwhile Monique has many secrets of her own so maybe it is time for her to make her own fresh start as well.

And there is no newcomer to France story without a bit of romance with a lovely French man right?

As always, reading a Gillian Harvey book makes me wish that I could just pop over and live in France for a while. A girl can dream can't she?

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted by The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews and the Bookish Books Challenge hosted at Bloggin' Bout Books. Be sure to check out other stops on the tour shown below. Thanks to the publisher, Netgalley  and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy.

The Little Provence Book Shop

Everyone’s story has some magic. You just have to turn the page to find it…

As the sun rises over the little Provence village where single mother Adeline has escaped with her little girl Lili, she breathes deeply. This is their new beginning. Here, she can forget the lies her family told her. Here, she can start her story again.

Later she opens the door to the town’s tiny bookstore, where she is to work, ready to meet the mysterious owner Monique for the first time.

She expected an ordinary bookshop. But this bookstore feels somehow different… magical. Breathing in the smell of books, she feels a jolt of something. It feels like a new chapter beginning.

As she gets to know the villagers – including the handsome Andre and friendly Michel – she starts to believe in the magic of this new start. But can a runaway like Adeline ever find what she’s looking for? Or is a happy-ever-after just another fiction?

A totally gorgeous, escapist, romantic novel – set in rural Provence – by the bestselling author of A Year at the French Farmhouse and The Bordeaux Bookclub.

Purchase Link - https://mybook.to/provencebookshopsocial

About the author

Gillian Harvey is a freelance writer and bestselling author who lives in France. She writes escapist fiction set in France, including bestsellers A Year at the French Farmhouse and A Month in Provence.

Social Media Links –

Facebook: @GillianHarveyAuthor

Twitter: @GillPlusFive

Instagram: @GillPlusFive

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/GillianHarveyNews

Bookbub profile: @gillplusfive

Blog Tour: One Winter at the French Chalet by Mandy Baggot

 

When journalist Orla Bradbee is given a last minute assignment by her boss, she just wants to get in, get the story, and get out and be home by Christmas. Her boss is determined that this will be the kind of story that will drive traffic. After all, who wouldn't want to read a story about mute man and a pregnant reindeer?

What Orla doesn't count on is that she will need to take her 16 year old sister, Erin, with her to the small French village in the mountains near Grenoble. Her mother is very concerned about Erin, in particular her intense online relationship with a man she has never met. Erin hears the word France, and assumes the bright lights and shopping of Paris which couldn't by further from the truth.  Taking Erin with her also gives Orla's parents the opportunity to work through whatever it is that they are going through.

The village of Saint-Chambéry is an isolated mountain village with a small close knit community, and at Christmas they have many charming traditions. The mainstays of the village are Gerard and Delphine, who is the owner of the local shop. She's the kind of person who knows everyone in town and just wants everyone to be happy. And the person who she just wants to see happy the most right now is Jacques Barbier, whose nickname is Wolf. 

While Jacques isn't mute, he is a man who chooses to live in an isolated house, keeping everyone somewhat at bay, including his young brother. His first meeting with Orla does not go well. It's very clear that Orla and Erin are not prepared for the hostile winter environment of the Alps which pushes all of his buttons. He is not quite sure how it happens, but suddenly Orla and Erin are staying with him, his 19 year old brother turns up out of the blue, and no one can get the coffee machine he hates to work.

Orla and Jacques both have a clear idea of how their life should be, but as the story unfolds it becomes clear that that they have some self reflection to do about what it is they really want. As for the reindeer, well, you will have to read the book to find out that part of the story.

I have read a few books by Mandy Baggot now, but it is the first time I have read something of hers not set in Greece, and I really, really enjoyed it! The village of Saint-Chambéry sounded so beautiful, and so festive! There are a lot of threads running through this story, but the author manages to bring them all together beautifully. 

I can definitely see myself reading more of Mandy Baggot's Christmas books!!! And her Greek books.

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted by The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews. Be sure to check out other stops on the tour shown below. Thanks to the publisher, Netgalley  and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy.

About the book

One Winter at the French Chalet

Things aren’t going well for travel writer Orla Bradbee.

With Christmas fast approaching, her boss is insisting Orla must travel to a rural village in France to interview a man who doesn’t speak. But with trouble at home – her teenage sister Erin is in a ‘situationship’ with a man online – Orla’s only plan is to take Erin with her.

Get the interview done, find out more about this online Romeo and still be back in time for Christmas dinner. Easy, right?

Saint-Chambéry is a picturesque French village nestled in the snow-capped mountains, but Jacques Barbier – gorgeous and brooding, yet a man of few words – makes it clear that Orla is wasting her time here.

Orla can’t deny that Jacques intrigues and infuriates her, but what is the mysterious Frenchman hiding exactly? And can she get close enough to uncover his secrets without risking her own heart?

Escape to the beautiful French Alps with Mandy Baggot for a romantic, heartwarming story to get you through the cold winter months!

Purchase Link - https://mybook.to/frenchchaletsocial

About the Author 

Mandy Baggot is a bestselling romance writer who loves giving readers that happy-ever-after. From sunshine romantic comedies set in Greece, to cosy curl-up winter reads, she's bringing gorgeous heroes and strong heroines readers can relate to. Mandy splits her time between Salisbury, Wiltshire and Corfu, Greece and has a passion for books, food, racehorses and all things Greek!

Social Media Links –

Facebook: @MandyBaggotAuthor

Twitter: @MandyBaggot

Instagram: @MandyBaggot

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/MandyBaggotNews

Bookbub profile: @MandyBaggot

Blog Tour: The Promise of Tomorrow by Samantha Tonge

 

Elena knows that her days are numbered.When she was 10 years old, she made a deal with a strange woman in the woods. Her mother, who had been in a terrible accident, would be saved, but Elena would pay the price when she turned 30. Elena had always been cautious, but as it gets closer to her birthday, this caution is paralysing.

Her workmate Rory, is the complete opposite. He is flamboyant, loves extreme sports and never saw a challenge that he wouldn't accept.

Elena and Rory work well together, with their skills complementing each other in their work at a biscuit factory. When he needs a temporary place to stay, along with his two stick insects, Elena agrees that he can stay with her, no matter how uncomfortable that makes her initially. The thing is though, like so many of us, both Elena and Rory are wearing masks, so sharing a house together gives them the chance to really see beneath the mask.

After a couple of odd incidents that unsettle her, Elena decides to throw caution to the wind. After all, if this is the end she wants to have experience life as much as she can, which Rory finds quite confusing. Who is the real Elena? And where does she disappear to?

I love that Elena and Rory are fundamentally just good people. For example, Elena's neighbour, Tahoor, is lonely following the death of his wife and Rory finds himself watching soccer with Tahoor, despite the fact that he doesn't like football.

I have read a few Samantha Tonge books now, and I always enjoy her way of exploring various topics, with care and respect. One of the things that is interesting about this book is in the author's note where she asks people to leave a review if they could, but she specifically asked that we not mention one of the themes of the novel. Of course I am going to respect that request. You will just need to read the book to find out what happens to Elena and Rory.

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted by The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews. Be sure to check out other stops on the tour shown below. Thanks to the publisher, Netgalley  and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy.

About the book

The Promise of Tomorrow

Elena Swan believes she’s going to die. And soon.

She’s not ill. She’s not in imminent danger. But she is sure it’s going to happen.

Because many years ago… she’d made a promise to a stranger, in the woods. Elena’s mother was in hospital, after a life-threatening accident. The promise would keep her mother safe, but put Elena’s own life at risk, instead, when she grew up and turned thirty.

Elena put the promise to the back of her mind, over the years. But she’s twenty-nine now, and when something happens that puts her life in danger, she remembers. And she knows.

But Elena hasn’t done everything yet. She’s not brave like her daredevil friend Rory. But she’s also not ready to give up on life. Not before she’s been to Paris. She always wanted to skydive too. She’s never even fallen in love.

Without the promise of tomorrow, can she fulfil all her dreams before fate comes for her?

A completely unexpecting, romantic uplifting story, about friendship, love, and fate, perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes, David Nicholls and Faith Hogan.

Purchase Link - https://mybook.to/PromiseofTomorrow

About the Author 

Samantha Tonge is the bestselling and award-winning author of over fifteen romantic fiction titles. Her books for Boldwood mark a broadening of her writing into multi-generational woman’s fiction. She lives in Manchester with her family.

Facebook: @SamanthaTongeAuthor

Twitter: @SamTongeWriter

Instagram: @samanthatongeauthor

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/SamanthaTongeNews

Ma1d1ves!

Ma1d1ve

This week....

I'm reading

I didn't feel like I was reading a lot this week, but I did manage to get through three books which isn't a  bad reading week. I finished reading The Last List of Mabel Beaumont by Laura Pearson. I definitely see myself reading more Laura Pearson very soon.

I then read Samantha Tonge's upcoming release, The Promise of Tomorrow, and then I read The Little Provence Book Shop by Gillian Harvey

My next read, which I am starting tonight, also has a French feel, One Winter at the French Chalet by Mandy Baggot. I am more used to reading about Greece from this author so it will be interesting to see her take on France!




I'm watching

I started watching a new series on Netflex called Home for Christmas. It's actually a Norwegian rom com series which has been dubbed in English. It is about a nurse who needs to find a boyfriend before Christmas. It's actually not too bad, although maybe a bit surprising that they have made 2 whole series so far, with another on the way.

I have also watched two episodes of actor Richard E Grant's series Writers Around the World. The actor travels to Italy, France and Spain and talks about books which were set or written in the area ranging from classic books to more contemporary stories.

On Sunday afternoon we sat down and watched Star Wars: A New Hope. My stepson's girlfriend has never seen any Star Wars movie before so this was her introduction.


Life


My stepson and his girlfriend were down from Brisbane for the weekend, so we were doing the tour guide thing all weekend. 

We did have a 40th birthday to attend on Saturday night. It was formal but we could only wear black and white. I cheated a bit and did silver and black. Gave me a chance to wear a dress I bought a couple of years ago but never had the chance to wear before. It ended up being a high tea for dinner which was a bit unusual, but definitely fun!

Posts from the last week

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: October Links

Weekend Cooking: In My Kitchen (September)

Six Degrees of Separation: Long Island to Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles




I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date

Six Degrees of Separation: Long Island to Mary, Queen of Scotland and the Isles.

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best. The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links. I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

The starting point for this month is Long Island by Colm Toibin. 

I wasn't really sure which direction I wanted to go this month. There are always options, but in the end I decided to spin off of the word island and chose  Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak.

Elif Shafak has recently released a new book called There are Rivers in the Sky so this is my next choice.

From there I am taking the word sky and choose He Shall Thunder in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters, which is part of the Amelia Peabody series set in Egypt.

I could have gone in several directions, but I have chosen to use the first name of the author, Elizabeth and I picked To Defy a King by Elizabeth Chadwick

Using the word King, I have chosen Lady Macbeth by Susan Frazer King. When we were in Scotland we heard a bit about Macbeth, about how he was a real king although some of the other history was incorrect, and along with how historically incorrect the move Braveheart was.

Another historical figure we heard a lot about was Mary Queen of Scots so I have chosen the book by Margaret George about her, Mary, Queen of Scotland and the Isles. I would say that almost brings me to back full circle to our starting point!

Next month, the starting point is Intermezzo by Sally Rooney. Whereas I normally think of a starting book pretty much straight away, I am coming up blank so far. Good job I have a month to think of something.

Weekend Cooking: In My Kitchen (September)

Welcome to the first Saturday of the month where I usually share everything I have made over the previous month. I missed last month as we were on holidays so there wasn't a lot of baking happening. There also hasn't been a lot of baking happening since we got home either!

I did make a Raspberry Swirl Pavlova Wreath which came from Donna Hay's Christmas cookbook. No, I haven't decided to celebrate Christmas early. One of our friend's daughters lives in Dubai and was bringing her British boyfriend back to Australia for the first time. Our friends are originally from South Africa and so we had a South African/Australian barbecue to welcome him, and, as one of the few born and bred Aussies in the group, this was my contribution.

In theory, I was joining in on a baking class this week to make a celebration cake. The idea was that every day you would receive instructions and several day there was a live class online that you could cook along with. The first cooking step was to make meringue kisses using the Swiss Meringue method and mine didn't end up working so I am a bit behind. We now have guests all weekend, so I might just need to make it myself just by following the written instructions. The only element that I do have made so far is the raspberry compote.

We did pick up a few trinkets on our travels. We picked up this platter as we were flying out of Johannesburg. We didn't really intend to buy any souvenirs from South Africa, other than Dino, but we ended up seeing a few things we liked at the airport. We really liked how colourful this plate is, and the representation of the boabab tree and animals.

Have you ever heard of a spurtle which you use for making porridge? We bought this one at Mary Queen of Scotts house in the small border town of Jedburgh in Scotland. The woman in the shop insisted that our porridge will taste even better than they normally do. We'll see!

My husband doesn't say that he wants something we he insisted that we needed these salt and pepper shaker, just as a bit of fun! Now to fill them up with salt and pepper and start using them!

I also bought my team some Percy Pigs from Marks and Spencers in the UK, but I forgot to take picture. 

The final thing that we bought in Scotland was this glass globe filled with whisky. We aren't really whisky drinkers, so there is every chance that this will just sit on the shelf looking pretty but I am okay with that!

If you would like to see more about our travels check out the posts that I have linked below.

We picked up this book of WWII recipes from the Imperial War Museum in London. Such an interesting place to visit. There were a few different options as far as cook books go, but this was the first one I saw so it is the one that I ended up buying.

I have also acquired two new cook books. The first is Kin by Marie Mitchell and the second is Romy Gill's India by Romy Gill. I am also counting down the days until we receive the new Nagi Maehashi cook book which should be here in a couple of weeks. Can't wait.

We have had some foodie adventures since we got home. Last weekend we did a fancy afternoon tea at Koi Dessert Bar, which I will hopefully post about soon.

New Recipes

We have tried a few new recipes in the last month. All of them are from Nagi Maehashi. Two are from her cookbook, Dinner, but the Honey Garlic Chicken is from her website.

Zuppo Toscana 

Honey Garlic Chicken with Cauliflower Fried Rice 

Sesame Garlic Vegetables with rice

Weekend Cooking posts over the last two months

Greek-ish by Georgina Hayden

What We Ate on Holidays: South Africa

What We Ate on Holidays: London

What We Ate on Holidays: Scotland

What We Ate on Holidays: Scotland/Hong Kong

Afternoon Tea Diaries: The Library at County Hall

Cook the Books: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

The Resistance Bakery by Siobhan Curham

Weekly meals

Saturday - 
Sunday -  Grilled cheese on toast
Monday - 
Tuesday -Spicy Pork and Bean Noodles
Wednesday - Pork Chops with mash and broccoli
Thursday - Ice cream with Nutella
Friday - Smash burgers

I am sharing this post with In My Kitchen hosted at Sherry's Pickings

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - October links

 

Thank you to everyone who contributed a review in September for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. Currently there are more than 40 links for the month! I will be back in the next couple of weeks with the statistics for the month!

I am looking forward to reading your reviews throughout the rest of the year! I am sure there is going to be a lot of great historical fiction discovered and shared with fellow HF lovers over the course of this year!


If you haven't already signed up, it's not too late! The sign up post is here.

Just to recap what participants need to know. At the beginning of each month I will put up a post which will have a Mr Linky embedded into it for you to add your link.

Please remember...

• add the link(s) of your review(s) including your name and book title to the Mister Linky we’ll be adding to our monthly post (please, do not add your blog link, but the correct address that will guide us directly to your review). A direct link to your Goodreads review is also acceptable
• any kind of historical fiction is accepted (fantasy, young adult, graphic novels...)
• if you have time, have a look some of the other links that are present. You never know when you will discover new blogs or books!

You can also join the challenge group on Facebook which you can find here and don't forget to use the #histficreadingchallenge hashtag on the socials.

Let the reading begin!!