🌞 Summer Reading ~ Love at First Sight by Laura Jane Williams

Penguin
June 2025

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book to review

 

She’s found the one. He’s just not the one for her. 

Jessie doesn’t believe in love at first sight. Until one sunny Saturday in London, a fire alarm in Whole Foods throws her into a stranger's arms. Cal is charming and funny: their chemistry is instant.

Quick-fire flirting turns into the most romantic day of Jessie’s life. But that evening they're forced apart before swapping numbers. Jessie is devastated – has she just lost the one?

After weeks of searching, Cal turns up on her doorstop holding two dozen red roses. It feels like fate.

The only thing is, they’re not for her…

🌞My Review..

Jessie really doesn’t believe in love at first sight but then she meets Cal, the man of her dreams, in the most unexpected of circumstances only to discover that he is someone else’s boyfriend.  This is so disappointing for Jessie as she really thought Cal was the one for her and she struggles to get him out of her head.

What then follows is a will they, won’t they romance which covers a whole a range of emotions with characters who leave you feeling frustrated one minute, to seeing hearts and flowers the next. Jessie has so much going on her life and the author covers this well but what stood out for me was the interaction between Jessie and Henry, she’s his nanny, and this is a really sweet relationship, as for most of the story Henry is the most important man in Jessie’s life.

I read Love at First Sight in one sitting, it’s great escapism for a summer afternoon and it would be a good relaxing holiday read either by the pool or in the garden.

About the Author

Laura Jane Williams (she/her) is known as the queen of the meet-cute. She is the author of six rom-coms, as well as the forthcoming Lovestruck (June 2023). She is also the author of three works of non-fiction.

The rights to Laura's international bestseller Our Stop have been sold for television, and her books have been translated into languages all over the world. She loves romance, being a parent, and lifting very heavy weights.

X @PenguinUKBooks #LoveAtFirstSight

🎄Festive Read~ The Country Village Winter Wedding by Cathy Lake

 

Zaffre
28 October 2021

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

Clare Greene and Sam Wilson are getting married and everyone in Little Bramble is excited for the event of the year. But Clare and Sam are busy people and have left organising their wedding to the last minute.

Luckily, wedding planner Hazel Campbell has recently moved to the village. She had what she thought was a wonderful life in Edinburgh with a successful business, a loving fiance and her own wedding coming up. But when she caught her groom-to-be in bed with her best friend she fled, leaving everyone and everything behind.

Little Bramble seems like the ideal place for Hazel to start over. As she throws herself into planning the perfect country village winter wedding, she starts to find herself again. And soon she realises that a second chance at happiness might just be on the cards.

🎄 My thoughts..

It's been so lovely to return to Little Bramble in this story of a sparkly winter wedding. I've quite fallen in love with this quintessential English village where everyone seems so supportive of each other and for Hazel Campbell starting over in a safe place is just what is needed to mend her broken heart. Newly arrived from Scotland, Hazel is keen to get her fledgling wedding planning business off to a good start and what better way than to help villagers Clare Greene and Sam Wilson have their perfect Christmas wedding.

As always the village, and its inhabitants, come beautifully to life and by cleverly intertwining a couple of story threads we get to learn more not just about Hazel, and the joys and pitfalls of organising a last minute winter wedding, but also about another new arrival whose reasons for being in the village are just as poignant as Hazel's. The run up to Christmas is done really well and both the chaos, and the joy, of meeting deadlines, and getting involved in all the Christmas activities, is what makes this story so special.

The Country Village Winter Wedding is now the third book in the Country Village series of cosy romances and each one brings something quite special. I enjoy how the villagers we have grown to love make little appearances in each novel and whilst the main focus of the story is on someone new to the village, it's really great to catch up with those characters we have met before in previous novels.

Beautifully written, and charmingly romantic, there is no doubt that this cosy series has captured the hearts of its readers. I am certainly looking forward to reading book #4, The Country Village Allotment, which is planned for 2022.

About the Author

Cathy Lake is a women's fiction writer who lives with her family and three dogs in beautiful South Wales. She writes uplifting stories about strong women, family, friendship, love, community and overcoming obstacles.

Twitter @LakeAuthor #TheCountryVillageWinterWedding

@ZaffreBooks