Saturday 18 May 2013

When Emily Got Married

I've just finished reading When Honey Got Married.  I enjoyed it thoroughly, perhaps because I've just been through a family wedding at Easter.  And it was that kind of wedding.  Honey and Emily could be besties because the attention to detail, the craving for perfection, it was all there.  Absolutely beautiful but terrifying in the execution. I include photos of my daughters wedding in lieu of Honey's.


This is my review. ***** 5 Stars because it made me cry.

When Honey Got MarriedThis was an amazing read. Four novella's centred around not the bride but the sister, the best friend, the wedding planner and the potential 'other woman'.

Honey has organised a humdinger of a wedding. As over the top as you could get with hummingbirds and honeysuckle galore. While she's having bridal jitters and flipping from Bridezilla to the Runaway Bride, the women around her are having their own dramas.

Because among the wedding guests and organisers are some seriously hot men. Like Beau, the chef at Belle Fleur, the wedding venue, who is an old acquaintance of Grace the Wedding planner. 

Cousin Rainer, who would do anything for Brent and Honey, including heading off Eve, Brent's work colleague who had a 'moment' with him just before he got engaged. 
Then there is British Alex, Nina's best friend at the Circus who comes with her as her plus one.

Finally there is Griffin, Brent's brother, who was always around when Pippa was Brent's girlfriend back in the day and somehow made her more aware of him than ever Brent could.

Over the four stories, we get to see these romances develop, but we also see how each of these women help or influence Honey in getting through the biggest day of her life.

This is such a feel good read. What more can you ask for but not one but FIVE happy endings. And if you get a little teary and emotional on the way. Well that's even better.

The Bride and her mother getting ready

The whole hair thing with two of the brides sisters
The Brides Best Friend
The magic moment when Emily married Ashley
The MOTB with Anne Hathaway lookalike daughter

The Youngest Bridesmaid

The Brides Brother and 2nd youngest sister

A romantic moment

Pensive Bridesmaids
The Bride and the Matron of Honour


Cutting the Cake
Check the hair out.





Monday 6 May 2013


I cleaned.  Semi-willingly.  Well under the whipcracking orders of my 12 year old daughter...


This weekend I cleaned some old software off this bookshelf to make way for my current TBR pile.  I was only going to clean off one shelf but No.7 who has Cleaning OCD (not genetic) cleared the whole bookshelf and the desk underneath. It's brown.  Who knew.



Since then I've been stacking books on the shelves.  On the top I've put my medical authors.  The next shelf is Urgent TBR's this includes quite a lot of books I've been given as well as some I've bought.  The third shelf is  my current keeper shelf.  Authors that don't belong in my vintage collection though I notice Kate Walker has some books being released in the eBook Vintage Collection.  Also on that shelf are my 'research' Sweet Romances and a selection of recent books by authors not yet on my keeper shelf but trending.

This is a gif so it you watch the pic will change.  Yeah I just learned how to do gifs so I'm likely to be boring





Friday 3 May 2013


I'm a Maisey Yates Fangirl

This means that I nag her constantly for new books,  stalk her on Twitter and Facebook and anywhere else I can find her. I rejoice when I hear she's signed a 12 book contract because I will have more to read.  When I remember how very young she is I am confident that I shall never run out of new books before I die like I did with Georgette Heyer, Agatha Christie and Ellis Peters.

Heir to a Desert Legacy

Heir to a Desert LegacyOnce again Maisey Yates puts together a tale full of angst and passion to keep you engaged. As the surrogate mother of her half sisters child, Chloe thought she would do her duty by her sister and then step back into the safe anonymity of her academic world. There she could avoid the danger of passion that made her childhood a nightmare.

Sayid, brother of the sheikh, was brought up to be an emotionless machine, designed to fight for his country at all costs. Unfortunately he couldn’t protect his brother and his wife from dying in a car accident on the way to collect their child from Chloe. When he discovers the existence of the child he will do anything to protect the future king.

Drawn into Sayid’s world because of baby Aden, Chloe finds her commitment to a passionless existence threatened by the close proximity of this dark and damaged man. When they marry, to secure Chloe’s place as Aden’s mother it becomes even harder.

I loved this story and the dance of denial the hero and heroine are involved in. They have both pushed any thought of emotional involvement from their lives but for Chloe, baby Aden has breached the barrier, leaving her vulnerable.

What happens when these two start to open up to each other is amazing. There is one wow moment that made me fall for Sayid so hard. I just loved the book and the stress on the importance of love and hope for the future.



Heir to a Dark Inheritance.



Heir to a Dark InheritanceAlik is a bad bad man. His only redeeming feature is his loyalty to his friend Sayid, from the companion book Heir to a Desert Legacy. He's not anyone's idea of good husband and father material. But he is, reluctantly, a father.
Widowed Jada has been caring for his child since the death of the mother. All she wants is to be Leena's mother. She's already been a wife and being Alik's wife would only be bearable because of baby Leena.
Watching these two make a convenient marriage is like watching gunpowder in a candle shop. It is a disaster waiting to happen. A disaster full of sizzle and sark.
Somehow Maisey makes it work through the darkest depths to a HEA that is believable at the last.
Being a Fangirl also means you do ridiculous things like find naked dolls in thrift shops and immediately realise that they look just like the hero and heroine in the latest release.  Then you take photos and turn them into a gif simply because you can.




Alik makes the moves on Jada

Finally you become so obsessed with the characters that you write fanfiction where your characters meet their characters.


Alik Fanfic

The nurse was giggling again.  Ruslan quivered with anticipation.  He knew what that meant.  Squirming against the pillows, he craned his neck to try and see the door of the pan room.  The other boys in the ward slept on, the drugs doled out at bedtime doing their job.
Ruslan probed under his pillows for the tissue wrapped parcel.  Seven of the little blue sleeping pills,  fourteen of the white ones they gave out for bad pain.  Alik would be pleased.
The noises were reaching a crescendo, the gasps and little squeaks from the nurse followed by a masculine grunt and then silence.  A whisper and a rustle.
The nurse shot back into the ward, smoothing down her skirt.   She always boasted about being engaged to the other staff, but when Alik came around she tucked her engagement ring in the pocket of her coat that hung at the nurse’s station.   She settled at the desk, carefully not looking towards Ruslan’s bed.  He wondered exactly what was so special about Alik that she would break hospital rules to let him in after visiting hours.
Finally Alik sauntered into the room, his dark hair ruffled, his thumbs hooked into the pockets of his fatigues.  He looked older than sixteen, bulky in the heavy jacket and taller than anyone.  Ruslan wriggled to try and straighten in the bed.  One day.  When he’d had his operation.  He would be just like Alik.
‘Hey Ruslan.’
‘Hello Alik.’
‘What do you have for me?’
Carefully, Ruslan held out the tissue.  ‘Seven and fourteen, this time.  I’m getting good at it.  That trick you showed me works every time.’
The older boy counted the pills and slipped them into his pocket.  ‘You did okay kid.’
The hand came out again with a paper bag.  Grinning up at his idol, Ruslan took the bag.  ‘Chocolate?’
‘Da.’  Alik looked across at the nurse.  ‘Three this time.  You’ll need to make them last.’
Reaching across, Ruslan put the bag on the cupboard.  ‘Are you going away again?’
‘ Maybe.’   That cool, blue-grey gaze sparked with some emotion.  ‘Can you keep a secret kid?’
‘Of course.   You know that.’  He winced as a sharp pain stabbed at his spine.  He shouldn’t have twisted when he’d moved.
Straight away Alik bent over, studying his face with those piercing eyes.  ‘Are you sure you should be giving me the painkillers?’
‘It’s alright.  I just moved wrong.  I have my operation soon.  Then I can come and work with you.’
‘That’s not going to happen.’
‘But they promised.’  Ruslan’s heart jumped into his throat.  ‘They said I’d be able to walk after the operation.’
‘Sure you will.  But you won’t be working with me.’
‘Why not?   You said I was smart.  Just as smart as you.’
‘I’m not going to be around after tonight.’
‘Are you in trouble?’
‘No.  Not yet.  But if I hang around…’
‘Where will you go?’
‘That’s a secret.   I don’t want you to have to lie.  They don’t like liars.’
Ruslan blinked hard.  Alik never cried so he wouldn’t cry.  Crying’s for babies.  He was nearly a man, like Alik.
‘Will I see you again?’
‘I’m leaving the country.  It won’t be safe for me to come back.’
‘Never?’
‘I don’t know.  I’ll be following the money.  That could take me anywhere.’
‘You could write to me.  I could write back and tell you what’s happening here.’  Alik’s face hardened.  Sometimes it was easy to believe the rumours.   Ruslan didn’t want to believe them, but somehow he just did. 
 ‘Look kid, this was business.  It’s not like we’re friends.  What makes you think I’d be interested in hearing your problems?’
‘Not friends?’
‘You’re eleven years old and stuck in a hospital.  I’ve got better things to do than write letters to some kid I’m never going to see again.’
It was a different pain this time.  Ruslan preferred the other one.  It  didn’t make it hard to breath.
‘I’m sorry.  I didn’t understand.’
Alik shrugged, avoiding his eyes. ‘I’m sorry too, kid.  But it was just business.’
Ruslan watched him leave, not sauntering this time.  Striding past the nurse with a brisk nod of dismissal.