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Let’s go surfing?

content?id=jocBEAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1&edge=curl&source=gbs api - Let's go surfing? Meet Me in Hawaii
Georgia Toffolo
Fiction, Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction
HarperCollins UK, Mills and Boon,
March 18, 2021
320
four star - Let's go surfing?

Where an ocean of love awaits

Malie Pukui doesn’t believe in happy ever after. After a tragedy caused her to flee her family and friends in Devon she found a fresh start in Hawaii. Here, working at a surf school, she can give back to those in need and try to overcome the greatest loss in her life.

Moved around foster homes throughout his childhood, Todd Masters has worked hard to be able to offer a brighter future to young disadvantaged children. Now he has his own charitable foundation working with a surf school in Hawaii, a job he loves, but he still can’t put his past behind him.

When Malie rescues Todd from the sea a spark ignites between them, and the two wounded souls find a common ground. But amidst the surf, sunsets and sizzling kisses, can Malie let go of her past and risk something she’d locked away forever… her heart?

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This is part of a series about girl friends who had an accident in Cornwall when they were teenagers.

Each girl has issues as a result of this car accident including one who is paralysed.

But this is Malie’s story.

Malie comes from a family who ran a surf shop in Cornwall and thus spent all her life surfing until  her family shut up shop and she was forbidden to undertake a dangerous sport.

It appears that at least one of Malie’s parents is from Hawaii, but the story doesn’t tell us how they ended up in Cornwall.

I found that some of the story line was confusing. There didn’t seem to have been enough time elapsed for Malie’s surfing competition wins in Hawaii to have occurred considering she didn’t move there until after she left school.

There was a lot of mental angst  on Malie’s behalf but I didn’t find it convincing.

Overall not as good the previous stories in this series.

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Who reads books?

content?id=FMz2DwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1&edge=curl&source=gbs api - Who reads books? The Bluestocking Duchess )
Heirs in Waiting #1
Julia Justiss
Fiction
HarperCollins UK, Mills & Boon Historical
February 18, 2021
368
four star - Who reads books?

Her good friend... Is suddenly a duke’s heir!

Miss Jocelyn Sudderfeld is working at Edge Hall, indulging her love of translating ancient texts with her librarian father – and evading the need to marry! She’s always enjoyed a teasing friendship with estate manager Mr Alex Cheverley. Until he unexpectedly becomes the duke’s heir. Now his first duty is to marry a suitable debutante, not consort with an earnest bluestocking like her…so where does that leave their friendship?

This is a nice historical romance with the proverbial wallflower bluestocking. She has spent all her life with her father translating obscure texts and really quite enjoying it and not wishing to be a debutante or have a social whirl.
Her father is sponsored by an aristocrat to make these translation as so few people, at that time, could read and understand ancient Greek etc and thus translations of the well known works by the ancients sold well. And anyway, it was very prestigious to be able to sponsor a scholar and have your very own translation made.
But there was a secret. Her translations were better. More emotional and emotive and just less stilted. But of course, she was a female and no aristocrat would sponsor her. So they all pretended it was her father doing the work.
But her good friend the Estate Manager suspects something. But his suspicions are irrelevant until he needs to take over the sponsorship of the scholar.
Nicely written and in keeping with the genre.

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Islands in the snow: book review

island - Islands in the snow: book review Christmas Island by Natalie Normann HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter You Like Them One More Chapter Romance Pub Date 30 Nov 2020

In the bleak midwinter… A really frosty wind is making Holly’s life absolutely miserable After all the years of hard work it took Londoner Holly Greene to become a doctor, now it could all be taken away and she only has herself to blame. She’s retreating to her brother’s rustic home on an island off the coast of Norway to lick her wounds. Only, it’s the middle of winter and icy slush plus endless darkness isn’t exactly the cheery, festive getaway she had imagined. Nearly stumbling off the edge of a cliff in the dark, Holly is saved by Frøy, a yellow-eyed cat of fearsome but fluffy proportions, and his owner – grouchy, bearded recluse, Tor. Tor has his own problems to face but the inexplicable desire to leave a bag of freshly baked gingerbread men on Holly’s doorstep is seriously getting in the way of his hermit routine. Call it kindness, call it Christmas, but Holly’s arrival means midwinter has never looked less bleak.

We could be in one of the far flung Scottish islands – but we are not, we are in Norway – on one of their far flung islands where there is a very small community, everyone knows everyone else’s business, there is nothing to do, and it is very cold, very wet and very dark most of the year. Yes, the correct type of place to hide away in total isolation and be a hermit. it is also rather windy as next stop is America and the wind comes across a cold ocean. [No point having a balcony when you go across by boat we found out after having paid extra for one!]

As with many of these remote islands, the animals, usually sheep, are of a rare breed who have learnt to survive on a very particular diet which only exists on one island. Like the Soay sheep or the Boreray sheep or the Orkney sheep which live on seaweed. Many of these are now feral or are in rare breed farms. So our heroine’s brother has a flock of his rare breed sheep – Norway has a few too – in fact there are more rare breed sheep than any other type of animal as man has spent of his energy on cross breeding them for his particular environment. the funniest looking is this one – serious coats here!

Leicester Long wool Sheep - Islands in the snow: book review
Leicester Long Wool
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Orkney
220px Boreray Ram - Islands in the snow: book review
Boreray
220px Soay ewe - Islands in the snow: book review
Soay

We also have a lovely cat belonging to our hermit – a Norwegian Forest cat – this is a large breed of nicely mannered cat but they are smaller than the Maine Coons but just as friendly – we now have 2 Maine Coons and this is our male:

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Note the creamy coloured tail – like fair ground spun sugar! He is a ‘Red’ and very amiable and talkative- he calls for the next door cat to go on patrol! Oh and 16 pounds in weight and over 3 foot in length.

I did think that our hermit had seriously got the Covid and the whole island had the zoom etiquette down pat.

In many ways a quite traditional romance story – beauty and the beast trope – with a nice twist with the island, winter, xmas, and cat.

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What you and your sister might do:

content?id=L2MFEAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1&edge=curl&source=gbs api - What you and your sister might do: The Stepsisters
Susan Mallery
Fiction, Contemporary Romance,
HarperCollins UK
May 25, 2021
400

Who better to mend a broken heart than your sister?

When Daisy’s dad married Sage's mum, Daisy was thrilled to get a new sister. Except Sage was beautiful and popular, everything Daisy was not, and she made sure Daisy knew it.

Sage found herself living in a palatial home where she felt she didn't belong. She didn't have her new sister’s intelligence so she used her popularity as a weapon, putting Daisy down at every opportunity. After the divorce, the stepsisters' rivalry continued until the final straw: Daisy married Sage's first love, and Sage fled to Europe.

Eighteen years later, Daisy never expects—or wants—to see Sage again. But brought together by an accident involving the little sister they have in common they must learn to put aside their differences. Slowly, the stepsisters begin to view the past through one another's eyes and long buried feelings are revealed. Until their fragile truce is threatened by one careless act that could have devastating consequences….

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What happens in Miami stays there? Book Review

content?id=8sz2DwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1&edge=curl&source=gbs api - What happens in Miami stays there? Book Review Night Shifts With The Miami Doc
(Mills & Boon Medical)
Ann McIntosh
Fiction
HarperCollins UK
February 18, 2021
192
three star - What happens in Miami stays there? Book Review

Fast-paced days… and slow, sultry nights!

Dr. Regina’s temporary job in Miami is a chance to refocus. So, she’s unprepared for her former resident, Dr. Mateo, to be working in the same hospital. Or, for Mateo to make it clear, that he wants her…

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In essence this is a standard rom com – and the doctor in question did night shifts on rotation not all the time so title is incorrect. The story twists were that she was older than him; he was once her student; and she was only in Miami for a sabbatical. Nice to read she was African American and that the potential issues of inter-racial relationships did NOT arise. Nicely written but at a semi-superficial level – you don’t get to really learn or empathise with the characters or the setting.

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