Top 10 of 2022

Happy 2023 folks! It’s that time of year again when I share my favourite books from the outgoing year. I always struggle to narrow it down to just ten books, but this year was particularly hard as I have read some truly amazing books. After much toing and froing though, I have managed to whittle my list down from 40-something to just ten. These are purely in the order that I read them rather than a chart run down. Click on the titles to read my reviews of each of these:

• Dusky Dahlia – Lucy Holden
  • I absolutely adore the Nightgarden Saga by Lucy Holden, and having read the final three books in the series in 2022, it was hard to choose just one. In the end, it had to be Dusky Dahlia because of the depth of emotion in the story.

• The Embroidered Book – Kate Heartfield
  • Two of my favourite genres are historical fiction and fantasy, so when the two collide, it is a dream come true for me. This stunning book is a reimaging of Europe at the time of Marie Antoinette, and I could not put it down!

• Nothing Burns As Bright As You – Ashley Woodfolk (review coming soon)
  • This YA novel in verse is as beautiful as it is devastating. I wanted to review it as soon as I read it, but I just could not find the words – to be honest, nine months later, I am still struggling.

• Confessions of an Alleged Good Girl – Joya Goffney
  • This was a tricky decision for me, because I also read Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by Joya in 2022, and I loved both books equally, but only had space for one. I ended up choosing this one because I think that its subject matter is something that should be spoken about more.

• The Ghost of Ivy Barn – Mark Stay
  • I can’t get enough of the Witches of Woodville series by Mark Stay, and I loved this latest instalment. Each book has a slightly different feel to it, and I found this one a lot more emotional than I had expected. Oh, and I cannot stress this enough, you HAVE to look up Mr Stay’s unboxing videos!

• The Wedding Cake – Isabella May
  • If you don’t know by now that I am a huge Isabella May fan, then I don’t know where you have been for the last five years! I love, love, love her Foodie Romance series! It is just wonderful.

• Words In Deep Blue – Cath Crowley (review coming soon)
  • Oh my, this book! It was recommended to me by a friend, you know the type, “You have to read this book, it will destroy you!” and she certainly wasn’t wrong. I know this is a book that I will keep coming back to – just as soon as I recover from reading it the first time!

• We Are All Constellations – Amy Beashel
  • Yet another book that left me in absolute bits! I think maybe I should read some happier books in 2023, but I just can’t help myself with the emotional rollercoasters!

• Goblins of Lapland – Caedis Knight
  • While a lot of the books on my list this year are YA, this one is most definitely an 18+! The latest in the Blood Web Chronicles is a festive prequel full of Christmassy delights!

• The Witch and the Tsar – Olesya Salnikova Gilmore
  • Finishing off this year’s list is one of the last books I read in 2022, and another where history meets fantasy, this time in Russia as Ivan the Terrible encounters a reimagined Baba Yaga. It was the perfect wintery read to curl up with in the days before Christmas.

What were your favourite books in 2022? I would love to see your lists to add to my TBR!

The Wedding Cake – Isabella May

A huge welcome back to Isabella May and the latest in her delectable Foodie Romances. Many thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to be a part of the tour, and to Isabella for providing me with a copy of The Wedding Cake.

BLURB:

One summer in Spain.

One accidentally double-booked eight-tier wedding cake that needs to put in a same day appearance at a rustic countryside finca AND a beachside villa.

Two brides.

Two grooms.

Hundreds of hungry guests.

Freya Ashcroft, owner and culinary whizz at Marbella’s five star bakery, is going to need a miracle to ‘save the date’. If only that was her sole dilemma – as luck wouldn’t have it, she’s also fallen head over heels in love with one of the aforementioned male clients…

PURCHASE LINKS:

Purchase Link

REVIEW:

It’s no secret that I love Isabella May’s books, and I devour them just as quickly as I would the delicious food that is always a character in its own right in each book. The Wedding Cake delivers everything you have come to expect and love from Isabella May – delicious food, gorgeous locations, a sprinkling of humour, and as an added bonus, the return of some familiar and much loved faces.

Filled with characters that you will fall in love with, and others that you will love to hate, The Wedding Cake is an absolute delight. I have to say the finca sounds like the setting for the wedding of my dreams, whilst the villa wedding is more the stuff of nightmares! From start to finish, I was rooting for Freya to find happiness, both professionally and personally, and for one or two characters to get what was coming to them! Without giving anything away, there are one or two characters that I would love to see pop up in future books so I could find out what happened next for them – but then you all know that once I get attached to characters, I find it very hard to say goodbye to them at the end of the book.

The Wedding Cake is the perfect summer holiday read, and had me counting down the days to my long awaited return to Spain!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Isabella May lives in (mostly) sunny Andalusia, Spain with her husband, daughter and son, creatively inspired by the mountains and the sea. She grew up in Somerset on Glastonbury’s ley lines and loves to feature her quirky English hometown in her stories.

After a degree in Modern Languages and European Studies at UWE, Bristol (and a year working abroad in Bordeaux and Stuttgart), Isabella bagged an extremely jammy and fascinating job in children’s publishing… selling foreign rights for novelty, board, pop-up and non-fiction books all over the world; in every language from Icelandic to Korean, Bahasa Indonesian to Papiamento!

All of which has fuelled her curiosity and love of international food and travel – both feature extensively in her romcoms.

Isabella is also a Level 4 Pranic Healer and a stillbirth mum.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

Make sure you visit the other blogs taking part in the tour for more on this delightful book.

The Custard Tart Cafe By The Sea – Isabella May

I am delighted to once again be kicking off the blog tour for a delicious Foodie Romance from Isabella May, as The Custard Tart Cafe By The Sea goes on tour today with Rachel’s Random Resources. Many thanks to Isabella for providing me with a copy of the book, and to Rachel for inviting me to be a part of the tour.

BLURB:

Willow has opened a custard tart cafe at the end of a popular English seaside pier. Her unique and magical spin on the Portuguese pastel de nata has customers queuing outside the door to taste them.

Tiago’s grandparents are purveyors of The Real Deal: authentic custard tarts made in the Algarve region of Portugal, where his family have been lovingly baking them for centuries. When he moves to England for a new job and chances upon Willow’s wondrous wares, he is out for war. At least that’s his intention. But when serendipity brings Willow and Tiago back together at the departures desk in Bristol airport – destination Faro – outrage isn’t the only spark that flies…

Weston-super-Mare and Portugal are about to collide!

PURCHASE LINK:

Order here!

REVIEW:

It’s no secret that Isabella May is one of my favourite authors, and she triumphs once more in the latest instalment of her Foodie Romance books. The conversational style of writing means that you are drawn straight in to Willow’s quirky personality making her as hard to resist as the custard confections she sells. Just the thought of the delicious pastéis de nata took me back to a fantastic girls weekend in Lisbon – the discovery of these little pastries being one of the highlights. Settling down to read this book on the first day of a diet was a seriously bad idea – I should know better by now with Isabella’s books!

Willow is supported by a cast of colourful characters, with Frank and Reggie being particular favourites of mine. I can just picture Frank sat at his regular table with a pile of custard tarts, and I loved his decision to pay it forward in tarts to the most deserving customers. As for Tiago, well, he is just as delicious as Willow’s custardy creations!

As well as tempting the taste-buds, Isabella May also likes to ignite the travel bug, this time whisking us away to sunny Portugal. Whilst my travels in this country have so far been limited to beautiful Lisbon, I found it so easy to picture the remote quinta Willow and her friends holidayed in, and the gorgeous sounding town of Tavira.

Although Isabella May’s Foodie Romances are not a series as such, regular readers of her books will notice that some characters have a tendency of popping up in other people’s stories. I love this little touch, and so was very happy to see a certain Bath-based gelateria getting a mention!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Isabella May lives in (mostly) sunny Andalusia, Spain with her husband, daughter and son, creatively inspired by the mountains and the sea. She grew up in Somerset on Glastonbury’s ley lines and loves to feature her quirky English hometown in her stories.

After a degree in Modern Languages and European Studies at UWE, Bristol (and a year working abroad in Bordeaux and Stuttgart), Isabella bagged an extremely jammy and fascinating job in children’s publishing… selling foreign rights for novelty, board, pop-up and non-fiction books all over the world; in every language from Icelandic to Korean, Bahasa Indonesian to Papiamento!

All of which has fuelled her curiosity and love of international food and travel – both feature extensively in her romcoms.

Isabella is also a Pranic Healer and a stillbirth mum.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

Make sure you visit the other blogs joining the tour for more about this gorgeous book!

The Chocolate Box – Isabella May

I have the privilege of kicking off the blog tour for one of my favourite authors today, as Isabella May returns with The Chocolate Box. Many thanks to Isabella for providing me with a copy of the book, and to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to be a part of the tour.

BLURB:

Ellie Sanchez wants revenge. Spurned during her school days at prestigious Monty’s academy when she was plain Eleanor Finch, and played second fiddle to her idol, Barnaby Westwood, and his show-off sister, Clementine, Ellie will stop at nothing to turn the tables now she’s all grown up. The siblings and their snubbing have been the catalyst for everything that’s gone wrong in her life, from parental neglect to her divorce.

When the Westwood travel merchandise company advertises for a new HR manager, Ellie decides her unique combo of karma and Law of Attraction has finally come good. And she’ll be bagging herself a cherry-on-the-cake, second, and richer, husband in the process – once Barnaby sees how much she’s changed, anyway. 

Fast forward two years and he STILL doesn’t recognise her! 

Fast forward two years and the company is in a financial mess.

Last Chance Saloon-style, Ellie coerces the siblings and their older sister, Brooke (the perpetual spanner in her works) to a rustic gîte in Normandy for a spot of team-building… over a very ‘special’ box of artisan chocolates.

Cue ALL the fireworks in the cocoa bean version of Jumanji…

PURCHASE LINKS:

Amazon UK

Amazon US

REVIEW:

As ever, it is impossible to review a book by Isabella May without first taking a moment to admire the delectable cover. Isabella’s covers always make my mouth water and send me scurrying to the fridge or snack cupboard before I settle down to read – and believe me, with this book, perhaps even more so than her previous books, you are going to want a decent supply of chocolate on hand for this one. In fact, I finished reading the book over a week ago and I still can’t stopping eating chocolate!

Setting aside talk of chocolate, for now at least, there is so much to love about this book that I am not too sure where to start. Of all the colourful characters in The Chocolate Box, Brooke was my favourite, somehow remaining sweet natured, despite being constantly being beaten down by her spoiled siblings Barnaby and Clementine. I found Ellie a slightly harder character to warm to at first. Her obsession with Barnaby makes her seem more than a little crazy and uncaring of who she tramples on to get to him. However, it didn’t take long for her to find her own place in my heart as the secrets of her past came to light.

Throughout the book, there are interesting interview snippets with Jock and Julie which hint at the drama to come as the full story unfolds. Jock and Julie are a fantastic double act deserving of their own book, which I am sure they could fill with wonderful stories.

Now, back to chocolate, or specifically, the eponymous Chocolate Box. Simply reading the  delicious descriptions of the decadent chocolates in the fabulous box from Chez Chocolat made my mouth water, although I think I might be less keen on some of the side effects that came with them. Never in the history of chocolates has one innocent looking box been the cause of so much mayhem!

Once again Isabella May has crafted a colourful cast of characters in a magical book that looks at how the way we treat people can have far reaching consequences. Filled with emotion, humour and a sprinkling of the mystical, The Chocolate Box is a wonderful, if potentially fattening, read.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Isabella May lives in (mostly) sunny Andalusia, Spain with her husband, daughter and son, creatively inspired by the mountains and the sea. Having grown up on Glastonbury’s ley lines however, she’s unable to completely shake off her spiritual inner child, and is a Law of Attraction fanatic, as well as a Pranic Healer.

After a degree in Modern Languages and European Studies at UWE, Bristol (and a year working abroad in Bordeaux and Stuttgart), Isabella bagged an extremely jammy and fascinating job in children’s publishing… selling foreign rights for novelty, board, pop-up and non-fiction books all over the world; in every language from Icelandic to Korean, Bahasa Indonesian to Papiamento!

All of which has fuelled her curiosity and love of international food and travel – both feature extensively in her cross-genre novels, fused with a dollop of romcom, and a sprinkle of magical realism.

You can follow her Foodie Romance Journey series on social media.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

Make sure you visit the other blogs taking part in the tour for more about The Chocolate Box.