Rhoda Baxter's Blog, page 17

Book review: The Bromance Book CLub by Lyssa Kay Adams

The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this book and wished I’d thought of the premise.
Gavin breaks up with his wife and is devastated. He finds help in the form of a secret book club that his team mates belong to. They read romance novels in order to understand how to talk to women and how to be better partners to their wives and girlfriends. The first rule of book club is that you don’t talk about book club.
Thea is Gavin’s estranged wife and mother of his ...

That Holiday In France is out today!

My latest novella, That Holiday in France is about … that’s right, it’s about a holiday in France. I wrote it before the lockdown, so people don’t stand two metres apart and don’t wear masks, as was normal in the Before Times.

It’s a light(ish) summer read and it’s quite short. I hope you enjoy it!

When Ellie’s boyfriend forbids her from going to France to attend her best friend’s wedding, she decides she’s had enough. She dumps him and goes to France by herself. But travelling alone i...

Inheritance Books: Stefania Hartley

This week’s guest on Inheritance Books is romance author Stefania Hartley. Welcome to the Inheritance Books sofa, Stefania. Grab a seat while I put the kettle on. While we’re waiting for the water to boil, why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself?

I was born and grew up in Sicily, then I came over to the UK in my early twenties, for a university exchange programme. I took the ‘exchange’ bit so seriously that I ended up exchanging rings and vows with an Englishman, who’s now my husband o...

Book reivew: Nightborn by Jessica Thorne

Nightborn by Jessica Thorne

I enjoyed the first book, Mageborn, so when I saw this pop up on Netgalley, I grabbed it. Wow. I enjoyed it even more than the first.
The story opens with Grace Marchant and Bastien Larelwynn (the Lord of Thorns) in a foreign court, where Bastien is playing -or rather trying not be played by courtly games. Meanwhile something odd is happening to the Mageborn. They are being converted, filled with darkness and turned into vicious and powerful Nightborn. Theres no...

Book review: The Lonely Fajita by Abigail MAnn

The Lonely Fajita by Abigail Mann My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I requested this book from Netgalley because I loved the title.
This is a fun, light hearted read and is genuinely funny. Elissa is in an intern position thats losing her money, she has a terrible boyfriend and is about to be made homeless. She signs up to be a companion for the an elderly lady called Annie.

The story is about loneliness both Elissa and Annie, with their different lifestyles, are lonely. They find in each other the...

Book ReView: That Girl From Nowhere by Dorothy Koomson

That Girl From Nowhere by Dorothy Koomson
This was an interesting book. Clemency Smitty Smittson is adopted and the only clue she has to her roots is the box with butterflies on that she was given when she was adopted. She moves to Brighton, the town of her birth, with her adopted mother (who is arguably, her real mother) and secrets from the past start cropping up.

There was a lot going on in this book. Themes to do with adoption and the sense of belonging, family pride, familial bullying,...

Book review: The Ultimate Pi Day Party by Jackie Lau

The Ultimate Pi Day Party by Jackie Lau

This is a lovely story about Josh (tech CEO) and Sarah (pie maker extraordinaire). Josh is throwing a pi day party in the hope that it will be the catalyst to healing the rift between him and his dad. He hires Sarah, from the Happy As Pie shop to cater for the event.
The characters are all really well developed and I felt I knew both Sarah and Josh. I loved that Sarah has been working so that she feels she hasnt made many female friends and these...

Book Review: Miss Amelia’s Mistletoe Marquess by Jenni Fletcher

Amelia/Millie Fairclough walks home in a blizzard and has to take shelter in a gatehouse. Where she encounters Cassius. The episode leaves her reputation tarnished, which is bad. Very bad.

Millie is trying to work out who she is. She has spent all her life working for her parents charitable foundation and is having trouble separating who she is from what is expected of her.
Cassius is still grieving for his cousin and his friend (not the same person) and trying to do right by his cousins...

Book Review: Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn

Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a delightful book! The heroine, Meg, is a lettering artist. It affects everything about her the way she sees the world, the way she responds. This is entirely as it should be.

Reid is more of a numbers and patterns guy. So when Meg puts a code into the wedding brochure for Reids (later aborted) wedding, he spots it. Of course he does.

I love the gentle relationship between Meg and Reid. I really enjoyed the visual aspects of the...

Inheritance Books: Ainslie Paton

Todays guest on Inheritance Books wrote a great series about high class con artists. Welcome, Ainslie Paton. Why dont you kick things off by telling us a bit about yourself?

I started writing when I was able to hold a pencil.  I was a child playwright mostly, but I also wrote long and boring stories with chapter headings likeAn uneventful day.  I very clearly hadnt learned to start with a bang.  

I converted that interest in the written word into a journalism degree and I work in corporate...