Random Acts of Kindness by Victoria Walters

Welcome to Littlewood, a small town community with a big heart... 
Abbie has fled London and the humiliation of not being able to make rent after being made redundant. Louise, unlucky in love, has thrown herself into her career at the local hospital. And Eszter, who has travelled from Hungary with her daughter Zoe, hopes to fulfill her husband's dying wish... to reunite his family

I am so excited that Victoria Walters is back to bring us another book as I absolutely loved her debut The Second Love of My Life which in my opinion didn’t get the attention it deserved. Now she is back with Random Acts of Kindness which is being released as 4 parts which you all know I am not a fan of purely because of the fact I am greedy and impatient! However I wasn’t going to miss out on the chance to enjoy more of Victoria Walters writing so I was willing to put my greed to one side and download part one ( it helped knowing part two had already been released shh!)

The first part of this series is called Promises and we meet three characters who right from the get go I knew I was going to love. Abbie has just been made redundant, with no job and no money she can no longer afford to stay in London so she makes her way to a little town called Littlewood to stay with her sister Louise. Louise is looking forward to having her sister around for company as she has just found out some news that is breaking her heart all over again.

We then meet Eszter and her sweet little daughter Zoe who has made the journey to England after losing her husband and is now trying to fulfil his last wishes. Things are daunting arriving in a new country with a young girl in tow with no where to live and no job but it soon becomes apparent that this lovely little community will do all they can to help each other out and Eszter has already shown she will fit in after kindly finding Louise’s lost bag and returning it to her.

I could go on talking about the storyline but I don’t want to give too much away with it only being a small part of the storyline. Once again the author has created such a loveable group of character who all have their own personal struggles but she shows that just by trying to help others you can not only make their lives easier you also feel good for being able to help and sometimes that act can be repaid. 

I loved this opening part to this story and I can not wait to start part 2 which I am going to do as soon as I finish this review! I am looking forward to see how the women progress and what they achieve in the next part.

Get in QUICK as Part one is currently FREE on kindle! ( at time of review )

A Country Escape by Katie Fforde

Fran has always wanted to be a farmer. And now it looks as if her childhood dream is about to come true.

She has just moved in to a beautiful but very run-down farm in the Cotswolds, currently owned by an old aunt who has told Fran that if she manages to turn the place around in a year, the farm will be hers.

But Fran knows nothing about farming. She might even be afraid of cows.

She's going to need a lot of help from her best friend Issi, and also from her wealthy and very eligible neighbour - who might just have his own reasons for being so supportive.

Is it the farm he is interested in? Or Fran herself?

I am a big fan of Katie Fforde, her books never disappoint and they always leave you feeling pleasantly uplifted and her latest book A Country Escape is no exception.

When Fran is contacted out of the blue by a distant relative Amy with news that she maybe inline to inherit the family farm in the Cotswolds she makes a big and brave decision to leave everything she knows and up stick to move to the farm to take on the challenge of looking after the farm for a year. What Fran didn’t realise was quite what a challenge she was taking in as the farm is run down and is not making a profit.

Desperate to prove to Amy that she could not just cope but turn the farm around Fran gets stuck in to making some changes to the farm with the help of her best friend Issi and the herdsman Tig. Having been warned off the help of Antony from next door because of his interest in the farm Fran is cautious to accept any help from him.

Just when Fran feels that things for the farm had turned a corner a surprise is around the corner that will put everything in jeopardy due to someone elses intentions for the farm.

I haven’t found myself so immersed by a book in so long. From the moment I picked this book up I couldn’t put it down and so I ended up absorbing it in one sitting and now I am said to leave the characters behind.

Fran was such a determined, hardworking and creative character who was so honest and caring, I warmed to her instantly. I really enjoyed her tackling each task head on desperate to come up with a way to save the farm and to show Amy that she was worthy of inheriting the farm and to prove that she had the best intentions of keeping the farm and its heritage in tack. The friendship between Issi and Fran was such a strong one their support for one and other was so believable and they bounced off each other perfectly.

I was wary of Antony and I found my opinion of him gradually changing through out the storyline but was still on my guard waiting for something to come crashing around the corner and for his true colours to be shown.

I really enjoy books that centre around building or saving small businesses so I knew this book was going to appeal to me but I love how much detail Katie Fforde went into in regards to the hurdles that need to be faced and the ideas that you bounce around to try and find that special something that just makes something work. It shows that nothing comes easy it is through pure determination and hard work that something becomes successful. To soften the business side of the book we also enjoy blossoming romances, friendships and gorgeous little puppies too! I think I should give the hardworking cows a mention too or I will not be in Tig’s good books!

This was another wonderful read by Katie Fforde and it is definitely up there with my favourite of hers so fans will not be disappointed by thus book and anyone who is yet to discover Katie Fforde’s books this would be a great one to start with.

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Still Me by Jojo Moyes

She knows how many miles lie between her new home in New York and her new boyfriend Sam in London.

She knows her employer is a good man and she knows his wife is keeping a secret from him.

What Lou doesn't know is she's about to meet someone who's going to turn her whole life upside down.

Because Josh will remind her so much of a man she used to know that it'll hurt.

Lou won't know what to do next, but she knows that whatever she chooses is going to change everything.

Me Before You is one of my all time favourite books and one of the rare books I have reread over again so I was look forward to the release of Still Me to see what Jojo Moyes had in store for Louisa Clark this time so I snapped up my copy from my local bookshop and headed home to jump straight in.

Louisa has an opportunity of a life time to really do what Will wanted her to do and push her boundaries and see the world when an opportunity for her to up sticks and move to New York and become a professional friend to the very wealthy Agnes. 

As Louisa is challenged in her role in keeping secrets and to partake in exercise that almost kills her she is also finding it difficult leaving Sam behind can a long-distance relationship really survive especially when a face from her past takes her breath away?

I really enjoyed this book and found myself taking my time reading this as I really didn’t want to leave Louisa again as with each book she is taken on a further exciting journey that is allowing her to find herself and I love being with her on her journey and watching her blossom. You can still rely on Lou to give us a good laugh but you can also really see the honest and genuinely caring character she is deep within always putting herself before others even when it leaves her in a vulnerable situation.

I loved having Nathan around again in this book as well as meeting some new characters like the difficult yet delightful Mrs De Witt and the ever so friendly and welcoming Ashok, I have to say I had my reservations surrounding Josh and Agnes from the get go, they didn’t warm my heart but they were great characters in this storyline.

Jojo Moyes really gets the balance right in this book with the emotional moments and her humorous antics which we had in Me Before You but that for me was missing in After You she has pulled it back again with Still Me and this is what kept me hooked and purely entertained and absorbed in the storyline from start to finish.

I have a feeling this may be the last in the series which I will be devastated about as I still feel we could have one more Lou adventure to tie everything up beautifully so I will still keep my hopes up that Jojo will grace us with one more little Lou book! If you are one of the extremely small population who still have not read Me Before You stop wasting time and go and grab a copy you will not regret it and then you will be eager to meet up with Lou again on her New York adventure in Still Me.

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