Blog Tour: Rainy Day Sisters by Kate Hewitt

BLURB:

The USA Today bestselling author presents a heartfelt novel about two sisters struggling toward new lives and loves.

"Welcome to Hartley-by-the-Sea in England’s beautiful Lake District, where two sisters who meet as strangers find small miracles tucked into the corners of every day....

When Lucy Bagshaw’s life in Boston falls apart, thanks to a scathing editorial written by her famous artist mother, she accepts her half sister Juliet’s invitation to stay with her in a charming seaside village in northern England. Lucy is expecting quaint cottages and cream teas, but instead finds that her sister is an aloof host, the weather is wet, windy, and cold, and her new boss, Alex Kincaid, is a disapproving widower who only hired her as a favour to Juliet.

Despite the invitation she offered, Juliet is startled by the way Lucy catapults into her orderly life. As Juliet faces her own struggles with both her distant mother and her desire for a child, her sister’s irrepressible optimism begins to take hold. With the help of quirky villagers, these hesitant rainy day sisters begin to forge a new understanding…and find in each other the love of family that makes all the difference."

The thing that struck me early on with Rainy Day Sisters is that it is the perfect read to welcome Autumn. Picture the scene; snuggled on the sofa, sipping on a cuppa, munching on a biscuit and divulging in an entertaining book set in the raining and cold Lake District. All the talk of fleeces and wet weather paired perfectly with the view from outside my window, but I was warm and snug reading (unlike the characters!) perfect, huh? Pretty much, and that's what I experienced when reading Rainy Day Sisters, a book I really enjoyed and absolutely flew through. 

At the start of the story we are introduced to Lucy, a fairly ditzy yet lovable character who is fleeing her problems in America and going to stay with her estranged older sister, Juliet, in the Lake District. When we meet Juliet it's pretty apparent that although she offered for Lucy to stay with her at a time in need, it isn't all welcome. Juliet is rather bristly and stern, in complete contrast to Lucy's quirky and bubbly personality. Although sisters, the two are very estranged and don't really know each other, which provides some awkward and difficult moments. 

I loved watching the relationship with the two sisters pan out. As it is told from both their viewpoints, you really get to know both the sisters and see why they feel the way they do. Personally, I preferred Lucy as she was so loveable and bubbly, but as the story unfolds you understand why Juliet is as prickly as she is and actually begin to sympathise with her, and hope she manages to lighten up and enjoy herself. 

One of the main highlights of Rainy Day Sisters for me was the location. You all know by now that I'm a big fan of stories set in quaint English villages and so this book was immediately a winner in my eyes. The story unfolds in Hartley-by-the-Sea, a small village nestled in the Lake District. There's a tight-knit community feel to the place which at times proves a challenge to Lucy and Juliet, but as a reader I loved it. Another highlight was seeing Lucy in her new job, as a receptionist at the village school. It not only highlighted the community aspect of the story, but also introduced you to Alex, the stern yet handsome headmaster. He isn't all that impressed with Lucy at first and I enjoyed it as they got to know each other more. 

The plot being centred around a sibling relationship as apposed to romance (although that does play a part too) was a slightly different storyline to my usual reads and one I really liked. The characters are interesting and relatable, the location is brilliant and I loved watching the developing and changing relationships with the different characters in this story. 

So get yourself cosy and snug, out of the Autumnal weather, and get yourself settled with this book. It is a true delight - entertaining, light-hearted and fun it will make you smile - it certainly did me!




BIO:

Kate Hewitt is the author of over 40 novels of women’s fiction and romance. She loves telling an emotional story in a variety of genres, and has been nominated for the Romance Writers of America RITA Award twice. An American ex-pat, she lives in the Cotswolds of England with her husband, five children, and an overly affectionate Golden Retriever. You can follow her adventures in village life on her blog, http://www.acumbrianlife.blogspot.co.uk.

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Book review: Please Retweet by Emily Benet

"Social media whizz kid, May Sparks has landed her dream job. Well, not quite, but the salary is great and all May has to do is handle the online profiles of Z – list celebrities who have the tendency to say inappropriate things. Easy, right? #wrong

May’s clients include an ex big brother star (who she's definitely not going to sleep with #neversaynever), a disgraced TV presenter (who wants May to sort out his marriage as well as his Twitter account), and a woman who once flashed her boobs on X-factor. They're all relying on her to turn them into stars. But they're not going to make her job easy.

As May is sucked further and further into her job she begins to lose her grip on real life. Her friends don’t ‘like’ her Facebook posts anymore and even her gorgeous neighbour, who once seemed to be on the same wavelength, criticises her career choice. Worse, May’s clients start getting trolled by an annoying tweep, who May happens to agree with.

Then May’s secret online identity is leaked, causing her to start trending on Twitter. It looks like the status update is over. Unless May can leave the superficial social media word behind and find her own voice again…"

When I found out Emily was releasing a new book, I was so excited. If you read my review of The Temp, you'll know I well and truly fell for Emily's witty writing style and unique ideas. Before I'd even started reading the book, I knew she wouldn't disappoint on the latter. The story revolves around May Sparks, who has a demanding job managing social media accounts for minor celebrities. The concept of the book stood out to me- it's modern, different and would no doubt provide some brilliant scenarios.... and boy does it!

As May embarks on her new career, she begins to feel the pressure. Social media is a 24 hour business, and she doesn't feel like she can ever take a break. She is always scouring for favourites, re-tweets and witty tweets to make her clients accounts shine. With the promise of a bumper pay-rise and a successful career, she works hard to impress her boss and her clients. However, this work-a-holic attitude doesn't impress her friends or her family, and also doesn't really impress her clients... she's very much taken for granted.

At times, I found May's attitude to work frustrating as it was so full-on. Sure, I'm all for working hard, but the job eats into May's whole life. She doesn't ever seem to stop, and I wanted to shout at her to switch off all her electronic devices, grab a drink and chill out, on an evening at least. The world will still spin if a Z list celebrity doesn't tweet for an evening. But this adds to the story - it shows what a dedicated and hardworking person May is, while also ringing true to life, and showing what a big impact Social Media is having on everyones lives - we've become obsessed with liking pictures of peoples dinner or watching the latest viral video. It's absorbing and I think it's easy to not quite realise how much time is spent in a virtual world. (Pretty deep stuff for me, heh?)

When May started loosing friends over her dedication to work and neglectful attitude to them, I began to become infuriated. I wanted to reach into my kindle, grab her by the shoulders and give her a good shake. I won't say this is a negative aspect to the story as it just accentuates how lost May is, but it certainly will draw emotions from you.

As usual with Emily's stories, theres loads of varied characters with a wide range of personalities, which really showcases Emily's skill at creating characters that bring out a range of emotions. Theres funny characters, annoying characters, swoon-worthy characters and even more, which immerses you into the story and has you hooked. I loved seeing how all these different characters engaged with May and how they prised a different reaction from her.

Overall Please Retweet is an interesting, unique plot that is completely different to anything I've ever read before. I really enjoyed it. It isn't quite as laugh-out-loud-funny as The Temp, but I think that's due to it being such a different plot, which is brilliant. Emily's writing just gets better and better and I love the way she brings characters to life and has a knack of stringing together witty, well thought-through sentences. If you haven't already, add Please Retweet to your reading list, it's a corker. #Iheartemilybenet #gobuythisbook #seriouslygogetit (sorry... couldn't resist!)

Book review: Always the Bridesmaid by Lindsey Kelk

"Everyone loves a bridesmaid - except Maddie, who’s perpetually asked to be one.

Everyone loves a wedding - except Maddie’s best friend, who’s getting divorced.

And everyone loves the way Maddie’s so happy behind the scenes - except Maddie herself.

One best friend is in wedding countdown while the other heads for marriage meltdown. And as Maddie juggles her best chance at promotion in years with bridezilla texts and late-night counselling sessions, she starts to wonder – is it time to stop being the bridesmaid?"

This weekend I have demolished the fantastic, hilarious, witty 'Always the Bridesmaid' by Lindsey Kelk. Were there enough positive adjectives in that sentence to persuade you that this is a brilliant, not to be missed read? yes? brilliant. 

The story centres around Maddie, an events assistant who is juggling a very busy life due to her inability to say 'no'. Not only is she working on a project that could secure a very long overdue promotion at work, allowing her to actually have some control and be out of the way from her dragon of a boss, but she is also planning her best friend Lauren's wedding with no pay and with only three months notice, getting to grips with dating again after a long stint away from romance, AND supporting her other best friend, Sarah, as she goes through a divorce. 

Phew. 

I LOVE Maddie. She is a brilliant, bubbly character that I was rooting for from the very beginning. She is all heart, doing all she can to support her friends and family which, often, goes unnoticed. I really felt for her when her dragon-lady boss Shona was being a grade A cow and taking advantage of her under-utilised talent. When she meets Will it's clear from the off-set it's not all rainbows and butterflies (just chucking in a Maroon 5 quote there to highlight my point) but you are still really hoping that it'll all work out for the two if them, so that she has some happiness in her life. I'm not going to say anything else about the romance element of the story as I don't want to ruin anything, but I was really pleased with how it turned out for Maddie. 

The friendship element of the story is brilliant - raw and realistic. It shows the strains and stresses between the three best friends and highlights their flaws, all while showing their loyal and caring sides that show how close they really are. At times, I was ready to screech about Lauren as she is the ultimate bridezilla. Maddie explains early on in the story that really she is kind and caring person but as a reader you don't really see that side at all, as the story begins with her telling the girls she is getting married and so from the off-set we are thrust into Lauren's demanding, picky nature that made me bristle. Towards the end though you do start to see her actual personality, which makes you realise why the three have remained friends. Their friendship is the driving force of the story and a journey that I really enjoyed following them on. 

Now, whenever I pick up a book by Lindsey I know I'm going to be in for a treat and Always the Bridesmaid more than lives up to expectation. Her writing style is, as usual, AMAZING and I just genuinely can't get my head around the way she manages to turn sentences from a quick explanation to a humorous addition that makes you laugh out loud. It's so hard to explain in a review, but once you read this you'll know what I mean, her writing style is fluid, funny and bloomin' fantastic. The format of the story is great, laid out in the style of a 'bridesmaid diary' which gives a great sense of time. Also a highlight for me was the ending of the book - a summary of how things turn out is presented in the unique form of text messages, emails and Facebook which I really enjoyed.

If you haven't picked up a copy of Always the Bridesmaid yet then make sure you do. Lindsey, as usual excels with this brilliant, hilarious read that I enjoyed from cover to cover. 

Harper Impulse Fortnight summary

Today marks the end of Harper Impulse fortnight. It's been a fantastic two weeks and I've loved being apart of it, as well as seeing plenty of other bloggers engaging with a whole host of brilliant authors and reviewing some great books. I want to say a big thank you to the team at Harper Impulse for such a brilliant few weeks and also a special thanks to Katy at Books with Bunny who has done some fantastic organising for the event. 

Below is a summary of the Harper Impulse Fortnight posts that have been on Little Northern Soul this past fortnight: 

Reviews 

The Life You Left 

The Temp

 Author Interviews

Emily Benet

Carmel Harrington

I hope you enjoyed my Harper Impulse posts as much as I did writing them! 

Harper Impulse fortnight - book review: The Life You Left by Carmel Harrington

"It started out like any other day for Sarah Lawler; getting the kids ready for school, making the pack lunches and juggling baby Ella’s feeds. There was no way of knowing that her husband, Paul, would leave for work that morning and simply not come home.

Now the questions are piling up quicker than the unpaid bills and, unable to answer her children’s questions about where their Daddy is, Sarah is getting desperate.

But it turns out she isn’t quite as alone as she thought she was. When her beloved childhood friend, Edward, comes back into her life, Sarah thinks she’s finally been thrown a life line.

There’s just one problem with Edward: Sarah is the only person who can see him."

As part of Harper Impulse fortnight Katy from Books with Bunny very kindly arranged for me to receive a copy of The Life You Left for me to review. I haven't read any  books by Carmel Harrington before - something I'm glad I've now re-addressed as she is brilliant. The story took me by surprise and wasn't what I expected, making me appreciate every word and enjoy it even more. 

The story follows Sarah, a mum-of-three busy looking after her children, not quite aware that her marriage isn't quite what it used to be. This soon comes to light when her Husband Paul doesn't come home one evening and then announces he's leaving her. She is helped through the difficult situation by her childhood friend, Edward. Only Edward isn't any ordinary friend - he's imaginary, her guardian angel. When a brutal murder occurs in their village, Sarah starts having premonitions about the killer and so, with the help of her wonderful private investigator brother, James, she tries to identify the killer so the village can return to a quiet, safe haven. All this occurs while she deals with becoming a single parent, her childhood imaginary friend returning and her sudden ability to have premonitions and help people in her community because of them. 

The story is fast-paced with a lot going on, especially after the murder occurs. After this event the story becomes even more gripping as you're so eager to find out what happened. I really enjoyed Carmel's writing style, in particular her ability to make the dialogue between the characters so fluid and real it was like you were actually taking part in a genuine conversation with them. Thanks to brilliant description I could easily picture each scene and feel like I was there - especially standing in Sarah's kitchen chatting with her family and friends. 

The psychic element of The Life You Left surprised me as I wasn't expecting it to play such a huge part  of the story - but I'm glad it did as it adds a whole new layer of intrigue to this intricate and robust story. I'm not a big believer in psychic powers myself, but that didn't stop me enjoying the book -it's something different that makes The Life You Left stand out from just a normal 'husband leaves wife, wife tries to move on' kind of novel. 

There are some great characters in the story that are so real I felt like I became embedded in their lives. Sarah as a main character is brilliant - considerate, hard-working and a fab mum. Her twin James is just delightful, he cares so much for his sister and will do anything to help her. He firmly stands by her side when she talks about Edward and her physic abilities and doesn't doubt her - despite not being able to see Edward himself. He was my firm favorite in the book, a beacon of support for Sarah and an absolute joy to read. Through Sarah's psychic abilities we also meet some new characters. She has a premonition about Joey, her postman, considering taking his life as he is so lonely and down. From this, she engages with Joey and realises he is a lovely, genuine man and so she also introduces him to her family and friends, inviting him round for dinner. He soon becomes a great friend to everyone - he is a great, gentle character and is a brilliant part of the story. 

The Life You Left is a brilliantly written, clever story that I fully enjoyed. The psychic and guardian angel elements add a welcome yet unusual twist to a story about a woman's journey through heartbreak, suffering and self-discovery. The characters and location jump off the page and remain firmly in your mind long after you put down this delight. If you haven't read it yet, I would highly recommend you do - it's an absolute treat.

Also keep an eye out for an author Q&A with Carmel later in the week! 

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