Waiting On Wednesday (#18): The Little Teashop of Lost and Found

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Waiting on Wendesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It spotlights upcoming releases we can’t wait to read.

This week I am eagerly anticipating:

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Publisher: Bantam Press

Publication Date: March 9th, 2017

Summary:

Alice Rose is a foundling, discovered on the Yorkshire moors above Haworth as a baby. Adopted but then later rejected again by a horrid step-mother, Alice struggles to find a place where she belongs. Only baking – the scent of cinnamon and citrus and the feel of butter and flour between her fingers – brings a comforting sense of home.

So it seems natural that when she finally decides to return to Haworth, Alice turns to baking again, taking over a run-down little teashop and working to set up an afternoon tea emporium.

Luckily she soon makes friends – including a Grecian god-like neighbour – who help her both set up home and try to solve the mystery of who she is. There are one or two last twists in the dark fairytale of Alice’s life to come . . . but can she find her happily ever after?

Wonderfully wry, heart-warming and life-affirming, Trisha Ashley’s hilarious novel is perfect for fans of romantic comedies by Milly Johnson and Jill Mansell. And it contains recipes!

Why am I waiting?

Trisha Ashley is an author who’s beautiful stories always come inside gorgeous book covers. I mean, just look at this one!! Isn’t this one of the most beautiful covers you’ve ever seen?
It is to me…

The Little Teashop of Lost and Found sounds like a beautiful story that will leave it’s readers with a comforting feeling of hope, and I can’t wait to read it myself.

Plus, it also contains recipes, and who can resist to that?

Book Review: Love Notes for Freddie by Eva Rice

love notes for freddie

Title: Love Notes for Freddie
Author: Eva Rice
Publisher: Quercus Books
Date: July 28th, 2016
Pages: 325
Format: eARC
Source: from Publisher for a review

 

Synopsis (from Goodreads): Marnie FitzPatrick is a reclusive sixth-former from Hertfordshire with a dysfunctional family, a penchant for Pythagoras’ Theorem and an addiction to doughnuts and gin. Julie Crewe is a disillusioned maths teacher who lives vicariously through the girls she teaches, yet who once danced barefoot through Central Park with a man called Jo she has never been able to forget.

This is the story of what happened in the summer of 1967, when the sun burned down on the roof of the Shredded Wheat factory, and a boy called Freddie Friday danced to the records he had stolen. This is about first love, and last love, and all the strange stuff in between. This is what happens when three people are bound together by something that can’t be calculated or explained by any equation.

This is what happened when they saw the open door.

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Review:

Years ago, I came across a book called The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets.
I still remember how much I loved the writing style and the way Eva Rice described the setting, making me feel like I was there, with two girls she created in that cold but wonderful house where one of them lived. I remember how they liked music, Elvis Presley and fashion, and how one of them made herself a green coat from an old blanket.
The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets in one of my all-time-favorite books today and I truly believe that that book will stay with me forever.

When I found out Eva Rice had a new book I was so excited. I had no idea what to expect from the story, but I had a feeling I would like it.
I mean, how could I not? It was created from the same mind that brang one of the best stories I had a pleasure to read in my life.

Love Notes to Freddie takes place during summer 1967. It follows Marnie FitzPatrick – a teenager who got expelled from her private school, Julie Crewe – Marnie’s (ex) Mathematics teacher and Freddie Friday – a boy who loves to dance and dreams of being a professional dancer.

Yet again, Rice’s writing style was amazing. There are no other words that can describe it better.
I wasn’t sure whether her style will have the similar impact on me as the one in her first book had, because I read that one in croatian translation, but I didn’t have to worry.
Even though this time around I read one of her books in a different language, the writing style was recognizable.
And in all honesty, even though I liked the story in a whole, the writing style is absolutely the best part of this novel.
Some people might not find it as their cup of tea and some might say that it’s a bit slow, but it is the style that suits me the best.

Marnie, Julie and Freddie were loveable characters. They were and they weren’t unique at the same time, but the way Eva Rice presented them made me fall in love with them even though I couldn’t even say why did I care about those people so much. I couldn’t help but root for Freddie to make his dream come true, I felt heartbroken over Marnie and wanted to be there for her when she was lost, and I had to feel sad for Julie and her broken dreams.

This is the story of love in different shapes. It talks about love of a girl for a boy, because she is interested in him. It talks about love a woman can have for a boy because, in him,  she sees a dreamer she once was. It talkes about love for dance, about the passion someone has and a dream that keeps that person going.
It talks about parent’s love. It talks about friend’s love, brother’s love. It shows us how many forms love can have.
Even if forbidden, a love can still be strong.

Maybe that is the reason why this novel is so beautiful. You can feel the love coming from it’s pages, and you can’t help but love it.

It also covers some serious topics, showing us how much big of a consequence one secret can have and how far guiltiness of a person can go.

The story is written in first person, following Marnie’s and Julie’s POV.
This is an adult novel, but I think younger audience would enjoy it just as much.
After all, it follows a perspective of a teenager and a perspective of a woman who most of the time is reminiscing about the days when she was young.
If you’re a reader of ya genre and would like to try adult general fiction, this book is a great choice to start with.

Love Notes for Freddie is also a good choice if you’re looking for diversity in books.

4

Book Review: The Lost Cats and Lonely Hearts Club

the lost cats

Title: The Lost Cats and Lonely Hearts Club
Author: Nic Tatano
Publisher: HarperImpulse
Date: August 26th, 2016
Pages: 250
Format: eARC
Source: from Publisher for a review

 

Synopsis (from Goodreads): Swapping Prada for purrs…

While covering a story, feisty network reporter Madison Shaw gets more than she bargained for when she rescues a box of orphaned kittens. Suddenly the glamazon of the Manhattan news room is doing two am feedings to keep these furbabies alive!

This is certainly a change of pace for the high maintenance workaholic she’s become and taking care of the kittens makes Madison realise how far off track she’s come—after all, she was a stray once too…

When a video of her caring for the kittens goes viral, she knows her image as a hardnosed reporter is shot to hell. What Madison doesn’t expect is the media circus that propels her and the kittens to stardom. And the domino effect that has on her, her career and her love life—especially when she meets sexy Officer Nick Marino…!

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Review:

Imagine finding four little orphan kittens, too small to take care of themselves and without a mother to feed and bath them. What would you do?

If you’re a person with a good heart, you would take them under your roof and do your best to give them what they need to survive.
And that is exactly what Madison did.

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Disclaimer:

I will have to start this review with a disclaimer and say that I will be totally subjective when it comes to expressing my thoughts. This story is very special to me and I observed it from a different angle then usual because I experienced (almost) the same thing as the main character of this story, but was also in a situation that in parts reminds of the one  character Nick was in.

I really don’t want to make this review about me, but I think it would be fair to tell you that, because my personal experience is what led me to percieve the story in the way I did.
So I will just briefly mention that I have two cats that were only 13 days old when they lost their mother and I bottle fed them and took care of them. They are healthy now and are best cats in the world.
Also, five years ago I had a car accident and I was unable to move for weeks. Those days all I could do was lie in bed and sit with someone’s help, so I know how the recovery process looks like.
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Now, on to the real review…

Lost Cats and Lonely Hearts Club tells the story about a reporter called Madison. She is a real career woman. One day when reporting from construction aera, she and her cameraman find four kittens and a dead cat. In order to save kittens’ life, she takes them home and starts taking care of them.

Although she did not plan to, she keeps them and becomes their second mother because she got atteched to them, especially  to the tortoiseshell one.
For Madison, cats are not just company. They (or should I say tortiseshell one) help her see what kind of person people around her are so she ends up breaking up with her cold hearted boyfriend the same night cats move in.
As the story progress, we follow Madison and her three friends living a life in New York, dating and helping the world make a better place.

This book warmed my heart. When I say it, I really mean it.
There were so many memories that came back to me thanks to this novel.
And although it wasn’t the best read ever, I certenly enjoyed reading it.

The writing style was really good, easy to read and you can read this novel pretty quickly.
It is written in first person, from Madison’s point of view.
What surprised me is the fact that the writer is male.
I don’t usually pay attention whether I read male or female authors, but it really blew my mind how Nic Tatano perfectly described women’s way of thinking.

Character development plays a big part in this story.
Madison really changes through the story and even if that change is mentioned more then few times by side characters, readers can also see it in Madison’s behaviour.
However, I have to mention that I wasn’t on best terms with some of her actions.

The story itself was naive in parts in a way that everything went so easy for Madison, but I will assume that the purpose of this book is to bright reader’s mood.

It also had some flaws and unexplained things that I just feel like they have to be metioned.
I will write them down in the spoiler section  so I wouldn’t ruin anyone’s reading experience without their permission.

Overall, this book was pretty good and it really left me in a good mood.
I think that cat lovers would enjoy it so if you are one of them, I suggest you to give it a try.

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Spoiler Alert!!!

  1. We never got an explanation why mother cat died. I know some things we’ll never know, but somehow I wish we got to know what happened to her.
  2. Tortoishell cats are basically always female. Male tortoishell do exist, but they are so rare, finding one is like finding a niddle in haystackes, and male can’t produce due to their chromosomes. I wish vet said that to Madison bc I have a feeling many readers will just assume that the writer didn’t do his homework because „all tortoishells are female“.
  3. Nick had an accident where he lost the ability to walk and had to use wheelchairs. I feel like his situation was described unbelievably too easy. Madison could have just leave him alone for hours and it was like there was no fact that he is human and therefore has to use toilet, has to take a bath. Madison once told him he can just roll into the shower but guess what? He has to take off his clothes, wash himself and use a towel. Without help, that is impossible.
    I feel like the whole thing could have easily be fixed if there was a nurse to help Nick.
  4. Although it maybe is not a big deal, I wish getting rid of parasites was also mentioned.
  5. I wish tabby, rushian blue and tuxedo cat were more present in the story. They were in the tortoishell’s shadow.

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3,5