Showing posts with label Milly Johnson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Milly Johnson. Show all posts

Thursday, 11 July 2019

Summer Read ~ The Magnificent Mrs Mayhew by Milly Johnson


 ✨ And it's a very Happy Publication Day for this wonderful summer read ✨


11 July 2019

My thanks to the publishers and edpr for my copy of this book


Behind every successful man is a woman. 

Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.

Sophie Mayhew looks like she has the perfect life. Wife of rising political star John F Mayhew her glamour matches his looks, power, breeding and money. But all is not as it seems on the surface. And Sophie has had enough.

Stepping out of his shadow and taking time away to think, she finds herself part of a community that warms her soul and makes her feel as if she is breathing  properly for the first time. Now she must decide where does her future lie?


What did I think about it..

Blonde, beautiful, and with impeccable breeding, Sophie Mayhew is the perfect trophy wife for an up and coming politician. Always relied upon to do and say the right thing, Sophie astounds the gathered media when the words she utters are not those of her husband's spin doctor, whose attempt to mitigate John's latest misdemeanor backfires spectacularly. Fleeing to a place of safety, Sophie takes a good long look at her life, and finds comfort and friendship in the most unlikely of places.

In many ways this is a very timely novel especially in light of the political shenanigans which, quite possibly, go on behind the scenes as spin doctors seek to mitigate mistakes made by those who seek high office, and yet, this is not a political book. It's a lovely warmhearted story of a magnificent woman who has, quite simply, reached the end of her tether, and who looks to heal the wounds of indifference by going to the one place her husband would never look to find her.

As always, the author writes with an instinctive eye for what makes people tick and with such warmth that I can hear her characters speaking very clearly to me as they go about their literary adventures. Sophie is, perhaps, one of my favourite characters ever and I found that I was cheering with glee one minute as she deals with a dreadful situation, and then reading with a huge lump in my throat the next as she attempts to find out just what she wants from her life. Such is the pull of the story that, I quite literally, carried the book from room to room as I didn't want to put it down. There's an amazing cast of strong characters and I won't say too much about them as I don't want to give any thing away but I found that my heart melted on more than one occasion ♡

I think, as readers, we all have a literary first aid box, you know it well, it's that group of authors who will never let you down, whose stories bring you entertainment and laughter, and whose words comfort you when you're feeling down and a bit jaded. Milly Johnson is, most definitely, in my literary first aid box, she makes me laugh out loud, she also makes me cry, but consistently her good Yorkshire commonsense and sound judgement make her novels, for me, such a joy to read.

The Magnificent Mrs Mayhew kept me engrossed from start to finish and it's high on my list as a magnificent summer read.








MILLY JOHNSON is a Sunday Times Top 5 bestselling author of sixteen novels with millions of copies of her novels sold to date. Known as the‘Queen of Feel-Good Fiction’, Milly’s novels always feature friendship,family, love, betrayal, good food and that little bit of magic in life that sometimes visits the unsuspecting. Milly is a columnist for her local newspaper and is an experienced broadcaster on radio and TV. She is also patron of several local charities with community, literacy and animal welfare issues close to her heart.

  Twitter @millyjohnson #BeMagnificent

@simonschusterUK

@ed_pr




Saturday, 8 December 2018

🎄Blog Tour ~ The Mother of All Christmases by Milly Johnson



Jaffareadstoo is thrilled to be hosting The Mother of All Christmases Blog Tour


Simon Schuster
November 2018

My thanks to  the publishers and edpr for my copy of this book
and the invitation to be part of the blog tour


The brand new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Perfectly Imperfect Woman; a gorgeous read full of love, life, laughter - and crackers! 


Here are thoughts about it..

Three very different women discover that they are expecting a Christmas baby. For one it’s a dream come true, for another it’s a case of being a bit slap dash with the birth control pills, and for the youngest of the three, it’s a baby conceived in rather unusual circumstances. They bond over tea and biscuits at the aptly named Christmas Pudding Club and as their friendship begins, so the details of their lives start to emerge.

The Mother Of All Christmases is a festive treat, from its setting in a winter wonderland theme park, at the gloriously named Winterworld, to making hand-made crackers in the Christmas cracker factory, there is never a moment when the story doesn’t pull you into the fabulous world that this author so lovingly recreates.

What Milly Johnson does so well is making her characters feel real. Anne, Evie and Palma could be any of the women you know. Their worries and problems, high spots and low ebbs are so relatable that after a few pages you forget that you are reading a novel as this just feels like you’re having a natter, over a cappuccino, with your best girlfriends. There is so much to enjoy about this heartwarming story, for readers who are already fans of her work it's another chance to meet up with some of the characters from a previous story and for new readers it is a perfect standalone story to enjoy.

The Mother of All Christmases is an absolute triumph from an author who is absolutely at the top of her game. It’s warm, witty, wise and wonderful and there really is no better tonic at this stressful time of year than settling down with a pot of tea, a plate of mince pies and let Milly Johnson take you into the magical world of her imagination.




Photo credit: Charlotte Murphy


Milly Johnson is a Top Five Sunday Times bestselling author of fourteen novels with plans for many more. Her novels are about the universal issues of friendship, family, love, betrayal, good food and a little bit of that magic in life that sometimes visits the unsuspecting. 

Milly is a columnist for her local newspaper and is also an experienced broadcaster on radio and TV. She is also patron of several local charities, including Yorkshire Cat Rescue and The Well at the Core, with community and animal welfare both things that are very close to her heart.


Twitter @millyjohnson #TheMotherOfAllChristmases

@simonschusterUK

@ed_pr









Thursday, 12 July 2018

Review ~ The Perfectly Imperfect Woman by Milly Johnson


☆
Happy Paperback Publication  Day
☆


Simon & Schuster
12 July 2018

My thanks to the publishers and to edpr for my copy of this book


The Perfectly Imperfect Woman is the heart-warming and hilarious new novel from the queen of feel-good fiction – a novel of family, secrets, love and redemption … and broken hearts mended and made all the stronger for it




What's it all about..

Marnie Salt has made so many mistakes in her life that she fears she will never get on the right track. But when she ‘meets’ an old lady on a baking chatroom and begins confiding in her, little does she know how her life will change.

Arranging to see each other for lunch, Marnie finds discovers that Lilian is every bit as mad and delightful as she’d hoped – and that she owns a whole village in the Yorkshire Dales, which has been passed down through generations. And when Marnie needs a refuge after a crisis, she ups sticks and heads for Wychwell – a temporary measure, so she thinks.

But soon Marnie finds that Wychwell has claimed her as its own and she is duty bound not to leave. Even if what she has to do makes her as unpopular as a force 12 gale in a confetti factory! But everyone has imperfections, as Marnie comes to realise, and that is not such a bad thing – after all, your flaws are perfect for the heart that is meant to love you.

What did I think about it..


Whenever I open a Milly Johnson book I feel like I am sitting down with a cherished friend and having a natter over a cup of coffee and a slice of the delicious cheesecake which features so prominently in The Perfectly Imperfect Woman.

Marnie Salt is the epitome of every woman who has been beguiled and then left in the lurch by a man who bolstered her ego and then abandoned her to pick up the pieces of a shattered life. But never down for long Marnie picks herself up... hurt and bruised, most certainly, but with the offer of a clean break, she leaves her stressful marketing job and moves to the magical Wychwell, a delightful village in the Yorkshire Dales, where the rather wonderful and deliciously, eccentric, Lilian Dearman helps to put Marnie back together again.

Whilst reading the story over the last couple of afternoons, The Perfectly Imperfect Woman has filled my heart with sunshine. So typical of this author’s distinctive writing style, I have laughed out loud at the outrageousness, ranted at the perversity and bad behaviour of some of the characters and cried copious tears at the loss of others.  I've walked the village streets of Wychwell with Marnie Salt and enjoyed every single moment of the journey.

The Perfectly Imperfect Woman is an absolutely perfect recipe for a delightful summer read. A delicious dash of romance, a sparkling cup of friendship and a generous pinch of this author’s special ingredient…magical story telling.




Credit: Charlotte Murphy

Milly Johnson is a Top Five Sunday Times bestselling author of fourteen novels with plans for many more. Her novels are about the universal issues of friendship, family, love, betrayal, good food and a little bit of that magic in life that sometimes visits the unsuspecting. 

Milly is a columnist for her local newspaper and is also an experienced broadcaster on radio and TV. She is also patron of several local charities, including Yorkshire Cat Rescue and The Well at the Core, with community and animal welfare both things that are very close to her heart.


Twitter @millyjohnson #PerfectlyImperfect

@simonschusterUK

@ed_pr