Tropical Girl Reads

The old farmhouse at Tansy Falls. A little patch of paradise in the hills of Vermont. Home to happy couple Connie and Nate. And a long-buried secret that will ignite a devastating spark…

As the summer sun sets over the sleepy Vermont town of Tansy Falls, Connie is reminded of how lucky she is. Every day, when she leaves the job she loves, managing the Covered Bridge Inn with her best friend Piper, she looks forward to returning to the farmhouse she shares with her husband Nate. At home, her flowerbeds overflow with day lilies and the weathered brick walls of her beautiful house glow in the evening light. The air is filled with the scent of the puffed apple pancakes she prepared that morning.

But one night, when Nate returns home, he is distant. He and Connie have been married for a long time, and while the laughter and lingering kisses have dwindled, Connie believed they would be together forever. So when a stranger arrives on their doorstep with a shocking secret about Nate, Connie’s life changes beyond all recognition.

Connie never thought she’d need to start over and live a life without Nate by her side. But as her heart breaks, Piper and the team at the inn are ready to help stitch it back together, with thoughtful advice washed down with warm spiced cider. As Connie begins to feel whole again, distraction arrives in the form of olive-skinned, broad-shouldered newcomer James. Nate has taught Connie that she doesn’t need a man, but James’s arrival helps her discover that she can follow her own dreams too. But as more secrets come to the surface, Connie wonders if she’ll ever truly be able to leave behind her past for good…

This is the second book of the Tansy Falls series. After reading the first book Inn At Tansy Falls, I had high expectations for the second book and couldn’t wait to read the next one.

Well, I am not saying it was bad, but it was’t good as the first one.

Connie and Nate had been married for many years but they have been struggling with their marriage recently and she soon discovered a secret about Nate that explained why he was distant. With the help of her friends at the inn, she tries to live a life without Nate and meets a man named James Oritz who seemed to have swept her off the feet.

First of all let’s start with the good things. The writing was great. The descriptions of the inn, the garden and view made the reader feel like they are the part of the story as well. I really liked the author’s style of writing and the author has a way of drawing the reader into the story. But the bad thing is, the story is bland, boring and not much is going on in the story. First of all, this is not the continuation of the first book, and the characters in the first book are just barely mentioned in the book. Overall, I didn’t enjoy the story as much as I did with the previous one. Nonetheless, if there’s a third book in the series, then I couldn’t wait to read that one and hopefully will be better than this.

Worth three stars. Mnay thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

Pearl Flowers has been hiding away for so long that she has forgotten what real life is like. Her quiet routine in a woodland cottage in France is a sanctuary, far away from her past life running a beauty salon. But even when she is sitting at the foot of a beech tree with her drawing pad, surrounded by birdsong, her mind is never still. If she keeps herself distracted and far away, her past can’t hurt her… can it?

But then an unexpected phone call throws her calm world into chaos. Back in the UK, her estranged father Francis is dying. She hasn’t seen him for decades since he pushed her away and destroyed their family. And on his death-bed, Francis leaves her a gift – a diary, written in a code that only Pearl can understand.

As she begins to read her father’s diary, Pearl discovers that for forty years he had been thinking of her almost every day. And as she reads on, secrets begin to emerge from the pages causing her to question everything she thought she knew.

Reeling from the diary’s revelations, Pearl realises that the only way to heal and find true happiness is to face the past. But is she ready to confront her deepest secret, the one she’s been running from all this time?

This utterly tear-jerking and heartwarming novel is for anyone who knows it’s never too late to find happiness. Fans of Matt Haig,Mike GayleandCamille Pagán will fall in love with this beautiful, feel-good story.

This is the book that has all the family drama and that will make you laugh out loud and cry at the same time and that will make you not put the book down.

Pearl receives the news that her father has died and so she and Denny flies to London to attend the funeral from France. Her father has left her his diary, which was written in shorthand–something that only Pearl knows. With her father’s wife demanding to give the diary to her as she firmly believes that it belonged to her, And as Pearl reads her late father’s diary, she gets to know more about her and realizes that he knows more about her despite the fact that they didn’t have a good relationship with each other. Meanwhile, Pearl gets a surprise visit from someone.

This book is written in two perspectives–Pearl and Carrie. You will soon get to know who Carrie is by the middle of the book. The story is beautifully written with the author doing a good job of drawing the reader into the story. This book actually reminded me the likeness of Jodi Picoult, Heather Webber where this book in fact talks about the complications within the family and the relationships between the family members in general. I do like the part where the relationship with Pearl and Carrie were a bit estranged but eventually, it started growing as they both grow into understanding with each other. Overall, I actually enjoyed reading this book. There were some tear jerking moments, some funny parts as well that will make you laugh out loud and also overall, an intense family drama that is well described in the book.

Worth full five stars in my opinion! Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

The Lights of Sugarberry Cove is a charming, delightful story of family, healing, love, and small town Southern charm by USA Today bestselling author Heather Webber.

Sadie Way Scott has been avoiding her family and hometown of Sugarberry Cove, Alabama, since she nearly drowned in the lake just outside her mother’s B&B. Eight years later, Sadie is the host of a much-loved show about southern cooking and family, but despite her success, she wonders why she was saved. What is she supposed to do?

Sadie’s sister, Leala Clare, is still haunted by the guilt she feels over the night her sister almost died. Now, at a crossroads in her marriage, Leala has everything she ever thought she wanted—so why is she so unhappy?

When their mother suffers a minor heart attack just before Sugarberry Cove’s famous water lantern festival, the two sisters come home to run the inn while she recovers. It’s the last place either of them wants to be, but with a little help from the inn’s quirky guests, the sisters may come to terms with their strained relationships, accept the past, and rediscover a little lake magic.

Content Warning:- Depression, death

This is the third book I have read written by Heather Webber and just like her two previous books (The Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe and The South of the Buttonwood Tree), this novel deals with magical realism as well as the relationship between the two sisters named Sadie and Leala with their mother.

Sadie Way left the small town of Sugarberry Cove years ago when she got into an “accident” during the lantern festival and has been working filming and posting the videos based on cooking with a story behind it. When her mother, who runs a cottage inn at Sugarberry Cove gets a minor heart attack, Sadie returns back to the small town. Leala is having a strained marriage with Connor and she too returns to the cottage to help with running the cottage. And as the two sisters work together, they realizes the secrets and the story talks about the relationships and emotions.

Like her two previous books, Webber’s writing is spot on, immaculate and descriptive that will make the reader draw into the story. The story is also told from Sadie’s and Leala’s perspectives so we will know as a reader of what each of them think of each other. We see that they both seem to have a good relationship although Leala seemed to be neglecting about Sadie’s work. The magical realism that is the backdrop of the story, about the lake also seemed to be fascinating to read which is how it affects the whole story.

I do like how the life in the south of U.S.A is portrayed in the book. Many of Webber’s books are based in the south so you can have a glimpse of what southern culture in U.S. is really like. The ending to the story was predictable as we all know eventually it will be a happy ending.

This book talks about the near death life experiences that each of the characters have faced.

Sadie was almost drowned in the lake. Leala had complications with childbirth that nearly cost her life and their mother had a heart problem. Leala was mentally depressed after giving birth that she turned her focused on yoga. So it was a bit interesting to see all near death experiences of all these characters.

If you are into books that talk about magical realism with beautiful writing, then this book is one for you. Worth five stars!

A coffee war is brewing in Maple Falls, where Anita and Tanner are serving up plenty of sparks to keep the town buzzing.

Anita Bedford needs to face reality. It’s time to decaffeinate the dream that she and Tanner will ever be more than friends. Growing up in small-town Maple Falls, she’s had a crush on Tanner for years. But he’ll only ever see her as good, old, dependable Anita. Now she’s finally ready to make her own goals a reality. In fact, that deserted building next door to Sunshine Diner looks like a promising location to open her own café . . .

Tanner Castillo may know how to operate a diner, but he doesn’t know beans about love. After pouring his life savings into buying the Sunshine Diner, he needs to keep his mind on making a success of it and supporting his widowed mother, not on kissing Anita Bedford. First order of business: improve his customers’ coffee experience. Next, he should probably find out who bought the building next door . . .

It’s a bitter cup to swallow when ambition turns longtime friends and coworkers Anita and Tanner into rivals. Now that they own competing businesses, how could they ever compete for each other’s hearts? Or will the two of them come to see what’s obvious to the whole, quirky town of Maple Falls: potential for a full-roast romance, with an extra splash of dream?

Welcome to Maple Falls, where everyone knows your name, your coffee order, and your relationship status.

Does anyone want a latte? Well, I do want one!

Much Ado About a Latte is a story of two people Anita and Tanner who had been having feelings for each other since high school.. Now Tanner owns the Sunshine Cafe and Anita wants to buy the building next to the Sunshine Cafe to build her own cafe, and the story tells about the love-hate relationship between the two.

I do like the plotline and I also like the writing style. But then, I feel like I was watching some cheesy romantic movie with a predictable storyline and ending. Anita and Tanner had a crush on each other but Anita trying to open up a cafe next to Tanner’s made their relationship with each other more like a frenemy relationship. To be honest, I felt a little bored reading the book but then of course, most of the story in this book was predictable. This is more like a happily ever after, everyone gets together kind of a story although despite the fact that I have read numerous books based on that, this book was not my cup of tea unfortunately.

This is the second book of the Maple Falls romance series–I haven’t read the first one but this book is actually a standalone novel.

Overall, if you like a cheesy romance with a predictable story with a Hallmark movie setting then this book is one for you–worth only two and a half stars.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.