Win a Melissa Forster Tshirt.

Celebrating the new release of the sixth Braden book, Hearts at Play, author Melissa Foster brings you this fantastic giveaway!

2 Winners will each win one of these 'limited edition' Braden T!

(Sizes available Medium, Large, X-Large)

Open to US 

Ending on Tuesday 4th February at 11.59pm EST

Book #6 The Bradens, Love in Bloom Series #9

Brianna Heart has a six-year old daughter and a twelve-year plan to keep her life as simple as possible until Layla turns eighteen. That means swearing off relationships and the drama that goes along with them, working two jobs, and being the best damn mother she can be.

The last thing Capital Series Grand Prix racer Hugh Braden wants after dating media-hungry leggy models and money-hungry fan girls is a blind date. But how could he turn down a favor to one of his best friends? Hugh expected the date to go poorly, but he didn’t expect to be intensely attracted to the beautiful brown-eyed bartender who completely blows him off—and steals his every thought thereafter.

When Brianna’s perfectly orchestrated life turns upside down, Hugh is there to help, softening the turmoil, and maybe even rescuing her heart from the lonely place where it has been hiding. Can a man who doesn’t believe in fate and a woman who doesn’t believe in true love find happiness in each other’s arms forever? .

HEARTS AT PLAY is part of the Love in Bloom series.
**CONTENT WARNING: Due to mature content, recommended for readers aged 18+**

Buy the book from...... 

Amazon.co.uk,     Amazon.com,     Barnes and Noble,     KOBO


More hot and steamy Braden reads
     
   

Enter Below and Good Luck !!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Missing Gretyl - A Comedy Novel by Si Page

Missing Gretyl

I'm going to make an admission now. When I read the reviews for Missing Gretyl I was put slightly on edge with one citing the fact it contained domestic violence as the reason they couldn't carry on reading it. Having suffered through such a period in my life, I am often left cringing when I see someone make light of such a situation. Having spoken to Si over a period of a couple of months after winning the book, it was glaringly obvious to me that his intentions for the book were to make people laugh, take the warped English sense of humour and put it down on a page, so it was with an open mind (and soon to be discovered, heart) I opened up Missing Gretyl.

Missing Gretyl is full of colourful characters, each at first wrapped up in themselves - what they can get and in some cases, whom they can scam next. Gretyl herself reminds me of a larger than life version of a woman we all know - the one that's quite kooky, perhaps a little insane. With her love for wigs, frogs and getting a right good bargain, she's perhaps the woman you cross the street for when you see them coming.

Gretyl lives with her long suffering husband Albert on the 12th floor of a high rise in London. He often dreams of a life without her, how 'doing her in' in the silliest of ways (head in the toilet and a couple of flushes) might just be what he craves - but when he thinks she really might be gone, is there any way that losing his long time love would really be a good thing?

The Soddall family live in a council house and while Sharon wants out, Dave is a bit of a couch potato, but together with their son, Dave's brother and an old family friend they come up with the scam of a life time - one that will will have the rich folk of Poncey Bridge just chomping at the bit to throw in some of their fortunes.

But how do the two families meet? How does Gretyl end up in Poncey Bridge and just why is there a hitman called Arti Chokes involved in it all? To find out those answers you'll just have to read the book - a book which had me crying with laughter, sympathetically crying with pain and at the end - well that would just be giving a little too much away. No one wants to know the end before they start, right?

Si is offering the first 10 people to download Missing Gretyl from Amazon the chance to grab a signed copy in paperback for just £5 (including delivery within the UK). You can reach Si by email via www.missinggretyl.com

Top 5 Books I Want In 2014

Cured (Stung #2) by Bethany Wiggins

Okay...I don't necessarily want it anymore...because I already have it pre-ordered! I absolutely loved the first book in the series which I reviewed over on My Keeper Shelf here so when I saw the second book was due out fairly soon, I had to pre order it - it will be a nice surprise in March when it turns up!

A Girl Called Jack - 100 Budget Recipes by Jack Monroe

Steve will probably hate me for wanting this - he isn't the biggest fan of Jack's adverts on Sainsburys but this woman is amazing - the fact that she made her money stretch so far and then found herself and her blog becoming so well known is incredible. I love the fact that she tirelessly campaigns for what she believes in and I am sure her recipe book is going to be packed full of delicious recipes.

The One Plus One by Jojo Moyes

I fell out of love with Jojo Moyes for a while, I am ashamed to say. I haven't picked up a book by her in absolutely ages but I have heard that this one is meant to be amazing so I will definitely be giving it a go.

Jojo always manages to pull at my heartstrings and really makes you think with her novels - I am sure this one won't be any different.

                                                                 Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

I am actually yet to read the first in the series by Ransom Riggs, Miss Peregrine's School For Peculiar Children, but I have heard such great things about the series that I plan to pick both up very soon.

Various Booktubers and book bloggers have been raving about this so its time I fell victim to the hype!

The Assassin's Blade (The Throne Of Glass Novellas) by Sarah J Maas

Finally we have the complete collection of the Throne Of Glass novellas. I read and reviewed the first in the series, Throne Of Glass, on MKS here and have recently ordered the sequel, Throne Of Midnight.

When I saw these were due for release this year, I knew that I had to have them - isn't the cover just divine too?

I know you can get all the novellas separately but I think this would be a perfect addition to my bookshelves and will also look pretty too!

What are you most looking forward to reading in 2014?

My Life by David Jason

My Life by David Jason
GOODREADS/AMAZON
I always knew I was going to get this, whether by picking it up myself or by someone getting it for me for Christmas. When I happened to notice a great deal on Amazon if I bought both David Jason's and David Suchet's books, I told my Mum and she gave the money to buy them - then promptly took them away to wrap up for Christmas *sob*

Janey, another member of the HOEW team, actually read this before me and told me how much she loved it so I was holding out high hopes for it myself.

It didn't disappoint. Much like the majority of the country, David Jason happens to be one of my favourite actors. He has appeared in countless TV shows, many of which make it into my top telly favourites, and every interview I see with him or read about him makes him seem like a charming, well mannered man.


I knew a little about David's life from numerous unauthorised biographies that I happened to have read - my family are big David Jason fans too so there was always one floating around the house. However, he did manage to dispel some rumours that always seemed to come up as gospel truth in these 'biographies'. It is an urban myth that a young David White, when told by Equity there was already a member with that name, chose the surname Jason as a tribute to his dead twin - I have heard this myself numerous times over the years and David quickly tells the reader the truth.

Many people think they know David from the countless books that have been written on him but I have been waiting for this book for a very long time. Who knows David better than himself? Who would best describe working with the fantastic Ronnie Barker for many years but him?

David starts the book with tales of his childhood and his odd dalliance with the law - and the very frequent dalliance with the nearest hospitals A&E department! - and regales the reader with stories of treading the boards, courting and his day job as an electrician. It is nice to get another view of some greats of the time - Sir David doesn't hold back when telling you which celebrities were awful people! Quite a chunk of the book is taken up by David's early years and whilst I found these interesting, I do believe he could have either cut them down a little or added some more depth to stories of his later life.

The period of time when David worked with Ronnie Barker is my favourite part of the book - Ronnie Barker is another of my great heroes and I have the utmost respect and admiration for the friendship the two men shared - you can tell just how much David loved Ronnie from the way he talks about him, page after page. Even the last page is all about their friendship - and I'm not ashamed to say it made me well up a little!

Obviously, this book wouldn't be able to get away without including the phenomenon that is Only Fools And Horses. I did feel as though this section could have been a lot longer - after all, it was one of Sir David's longest jobs and one he is reprising for a one off special for this years Sport Relief! The stories of how close the cast got and the immense loss David felt when members of the cast and crew passed away show just how much this show came to mean to people - whilst the nation took it into their hearts and cherished it, the cast and crew became a family.

All in all, this book was a fantastic read and couldn't have come at a better time - to hear David talk about Roger Lloyd Pack (aka Trigger, who recently passed away) so warmly goes to prove I was right all along - there is no bigger gentleman than Sir David Jason.

I would recommend this to everyone, young and old - you might learn something about a little thing called friendship.

I'd like to leave this review with the last few lines from the last page, regarding David's impending knighthood and written by Ronnie Barker shortly before his death:

The old ex-Guvnor’s proud to see 

His comrade reach such  high degree, 

Knight of the Realm, and TV star 

Who never thought he’d get this far. 

‘Arise, Sir David,’ she will say, 

The sword upon your shoulder lay. 

I raise a glass filled to the brim 

And truly say: ‘Good Knight from him.’

This book gets 5 stars from me - I'd give it even more if I could!

Knightley and Son by Rohan Gavin

I'm a firm believer that children’s books can and do appeal to adults. I would never discount a book because it was written for a younger audience, and some of my favourite books in the world can be found in the children’s section.

So when I realised that Knightley and Son was a children’s book, I was surprised, but it didn't put me off reading it. I was intrigued by the premise; Alan Knightley, a respected detective awakes after a mystery incident that left him in a coma for four years. His son Darkus, has spent that time studying his father’s cases, and has developed into talented detective himself. When a strange new book starts causing people to act erratically, Knightley and Son are called upon to solve the mystery.

The mystery at the heart of Knightley and Son is intriguing; Darkus and his father have to first establish if it’s possible that there are paranormal forces at play. A book called The Code is causing chaos, somehow persuading people to rob banks and commit crimes they would otherwise never have considered. With Alan still suffering from the effects of his coma, it falls to Darkus to take the lead on an investigation that will become personal for him, his father, and his stepsister.

As I said, I enjoy children’s books very much, and so I can’t use that as a reason for why I didn’t quite fully connect with Knightley and Son. However, I think maybe the traits that put me off the character of Darkus are probably the same things that would endear him to a younger reader. I find him precocious and slightly annoying, and I find it quite the leap to believe that he would be given so much responsibility by the authorities. But of course, as a child, reading this, that wouldn’t have mattered quite so much to me, and I’m sure that I would have enjoyed reading about a young teenager become embroiled in a murder mystery.


The book ends with “Knightley and Son will return!”, so it’s safe to assume that this is an intended series. With that in mind, it would be great read for children between nine and twelve, who are after an exciting story with some great action sequences. Unfortunately for me, it’s not a children’s book that will become one of my personal favourites.

I received an eBook preview copy of Knightley and Son from NetGalley as an advanced reading copy.

My TBR Pile

I am well aware that Bout Of Books is going on right now and I would have participated if it wasn't for the fact I have had so much to do recently. Regardless, I thought it would be nice to share with you my current TBR pile. Whilst I do have a lot more books in my collection that need to be read, these are the three that I want to get through first...

I am actually going to be reading these from the bottom to the top. I have already started David Jason's My Life and I am thoroughly impressed so far. Fellow HOEW-er Janey actually read and recommended it but I always knew I'd read it regardless. My Mum got this for me for Christmas knowing how much I love him as an actor and he doesn't disappoint.

Next up is another book my Mum got me - Poirot and Me by David Suchet. It is no secret that I am a big Agatha Christie fan and I also think highly of David Suchet as an actor - I'm sure this will be a fantastic read.

Finally, I have Elegy by Amanda Hocking to read. I've read and reviewed all three previous books in the series over on My Keeper Shelf so I had to buy the final book in the series to see just how it all goes down. I wholeheartedly recommend this series so I am hoping this book lives up to the explosive finale that is promised!

What is on your current TBR pile?

A Bookish Fresh Start

As you may have noticed, posting has been very sporadic as of late - our team has shuffled around with some people leaving and other people joining. I have to thank Glynis, Lou and Janey for consistently posting as of late!

I just wanted to pop by and say that 2014 is going to be different - I aim to include every book I read on this blog unless I am reviewing it for either Futures or My Keeper Shelf and we will also be looking for guest posts from you lovely people!

If you're interested in joining our team, please do let me know! We'd love to have you!