Apologies

I am still alive and getting used to being a new mummy! I have had hardly any time to read but I know that things will get better. This is just a little note to let visitors know that hopefully I will be reviewing again very soon! To all the lovely publishers who send me books, I completely understand if you want to stop sending for a while as I don't want you to feel let down if I can't get reviews up in time! I want my blog to continue as it was but I think it will take me a few weeks! Darcey is doing really well and makes me smile every day, thank you again for all your lovely messages and comments on Twitter!

Xxxxxx

She is finally here!!

Sorry for the delay but I thought I should let you know that Dot Scribbles finally had a new arrival last Friday! Darcey Elizabeth was born on Friday 3rd February at 2.48pm and weighed 8lbs! She is absolutely beautiful (obviously I'm a little biased!) and I am slowly getting my head around being a mummy!

Thank you for all your good wishes on Twitter and on here! Normal service will hopefully resume soon, actually read for a little bit yesterday so reviews should start coming!

Book Review: The Promise by Lesley Pearse

London 1914: Belle Reilly finally has the life she always dreamed of; a devoted husband in Jimmy and a hat shop of her own. But as WW1 shatters peace and Jimmy enlists for the army, Belle realises she can no longer stand by but must volunteer to help the cause. Her work as a Red Cross ambulance driver in France throws her back into the path and arms of Etienne, the enigmatic man who played such a significant role in her childhood and Belle finds herself torn between loyalty and passion. But the past returns to haunt her in other, more unpleasant ways and Belle's character is tested like never before.
Can she survive this most brutal of wars with her spirit intact and will destiny finally lead her to lasting happiness?

I read Belle earlier this month and thought it was fantastic. The Promise begins exactly where we left Belle and continues her story, I was definitely not disappointed.
Belle and Jimmy are happily married and settled in Blackheath with Mog and Garth. Garth and Jimmy are running the pub and Belle has finally turned her dream into a reality by opening her own hat shop. She finally has the life she longed for with a man who loves her and accepts her turbulent past.
Their lives are shattered though when World War One begins. Jimmy feels duty bound to enlist and signs up. Once has has gone to France, Belle is unsettled. There are certain things from her past being dug up that she would not like her new neighbours to know about and she has become disillusioned with designing hats for wealthy women who have no idea of the real world.
So Belle volunteers to be an ambulance driver with the Red Cross and is soon in France herself. Here she discovers that it is not only Jimmy that she is now closer to but also Etienne who is fighting in the French army. Belle has never forgotten Etienne and she is very quickly torn between the loyalty she feels to her husband and the passion she feels for Etienne that has been there from the very beginning. Belle is not even certain she will survive the war but if she does, how will she ever choose between these two great men who have done so much for her?
Lesley Pearse's writing is just superb again. Her descriptions of the war and it's devastating consequences are truly haunting and clearly well researched. As in Belle, Pearse leaves you wanting to read on at the end of every chapter and is never afraid to shock or tell it like it is.
I am so pleased to have been introduced to Lesley Pearse's writing as she has written so many boks which I am really looking forward to catching up on.
I would definitely recommend reading Belle before you read The Promise as you would not have the full picture plus you would be missing out on reading another excellent book. I only have good things to say about this book and I know that there will be several Lesley Pearse reviews on Dot Scribbles in the future.

Dot Scribbles Rating 5/5

Many thanks to ed public relations and Michael Joseph for sending me a review copy, the book is out now!

Baby Update Number 3!

Thought that I would do one last baby update as a few people have asked to see some pictures of the nursery now that we have finally finished decorating etc! Baby Scribbles is due tomorrow but I'm not convinced that she will be on time as she seems quite comfy in there at the moment.
As you can see we have gone quite pink with the nursery (this was down to Dr S, not me) so we are in quite big trouble if the sonographer got it wrong! Think it would have to be a 60 minute makeover situation!
I think we are as ready as we are going to be, I'm so pleased with the nursery, my lovely sister and her husband gave us so much help with it and I think she will be very happy in there!
As you can see there are some books on the shelves already but I am pretty sure that these will be added to, I can't wait to read to her and introduce her to lots of exciting and magical characters.

Hopefully the next baby update will be letting you know about her arrival so watch this space!

Book Review: Never Mind the Botox: Rachel PLUS Author Interview

Never Mind the Botox is a series about four professional women all working on the sale of a high profile cosmetic surgery business, The Beau Street Group. Each book reveals how the women cope with one of the most glamorous but challenging deals of their careers and the dramatic impact it has on their personal lives. With a briefcase in one hans and a glass of wine in the other, can they navigate their way through a surreal world of boob jobs by day and intrigue by night- and still keep their own love lives on track?
Rachel Altman is a corporate financier with a prestigious accounting firm who's desperately trying to keep on the straight and narrow. Hopelessly led astray by her bar diving boyfriend, she gets the chance to turn things around when her boss gives her the break she's been waiting for. But when the deal doesn't go as planned Rachel panics, sparking off a chain of betrayal and lies that threatens to ruin both her love life and her career.

Rachel is the second book in The Never Mind the Botox series. I read the first book, Alex last year and really enjoyed it. Rachel is the corporate financier working on The Beau Street Group deal. The books are not sequels so you don't need to read them in order; the idea is that each book deals with a different female character working on the same deal at the same time. Joanna Berry qualified as a solicitor and Penny Avis as an accountant so they both bring their knowledge and experience of the corporate business world to the writing process. Rachel, like Alex in the previous book is trying to juggle a high powered career with her personal life. I think that is what makes these books to refreshing; the fact that they are extremely realistic. I have to say that I didn't take to Rachel as much as I did Alex as i don't feel as though I got to know her as well.
I think that this is a really interesting series in that it is offering something new to the chick lit genre; the books are entertaining with a good pace and they are not afraid to portray realistic, strong, driven women having a career and a fulfilling personal life.

Dot Scribbles Rating 4/5

Many thanks to the lovely people at Midas PR for sending me a copy of the book to review.

I was also lucky enough to interview Penny Avis and Joanna Berry, here's what they had to say:

1.       Do you have a personal favourite out of the four books?

We designed all four stories before we started writing any of the books and found it very hard to choose between them, as we made sure that we divided our favourite story lines between them! It would be like having to choose between our children!That said, we get very passionate about each book as it is published so we are both totally in ‘Rachel mode’ at the moment.

2.        Do you have any disagreements when writing the books, if so how do you come to a joint decision and move on?

We had debates rather than disagreements. We always tried to look at things from a reader’s perspective, rather than from one or other of our viewpoints. Our commercial backgrounds meant that we were both used to taking criticism and looking at things very objectively, which also helped. We also tended to defer to whoever felt more passionate about the point and that helped us move on quickly.

3.       You both lead very busy and successful lives, just like the women in your books, what do you do in order to relax and get away from it all?

We both love to spend time with our families. Children are a great reminder of what’s really important, so we don’t take things too seriously. We also spend time with friends, exercise as much as we can and do plenty of partying!

4.       Congratulations on the TV series, will you be involved in the development of it etc?

Thank you and yes, which is great for a couple of control freaks like us! We have signed a joint venture agreement as partners with Future Films, rather than just signed over the rights to the books. So we’ll be involved every step of the way.


If you would like to find out more about these books or the author's themselves then check out their website here. 

New to Dot Scribbles Shelves

I have received so many great books recently! I only have a week to go until the baby is due so I am trying to read as quickly as possible and hopefully I will get back into it quite quickly once she has arrived. Anyway here are some of the books that I have received recently, let me know your thoughts on any of them:

Pear Shaped by Stella Newman (Avon, 26th January) Sophie Klein walks into a bar one Friday night and her life changes. She meets James Stephens; charismatic, elusive, and with a hosiery model ex who casts a long, thin shadow over their burgeoning relationship. He's clever, funny and shares her greatest pleasure in life: to eat and drink slightly too much and then have a little lie down. Sophie's instinct tells her James is too good to be true- and he is. An exploration of love, heartbreak and lots of food. Pear Shaped is in turns smart, laugh-out-loud funny and above all, recognizable to women everywhere.


All the Single Ladies by Jane Costello (Simon and Schuster, 2nd February) Samantha Brooks' boyfriend Janie is a loving , intelligent and, while he isn't perfect, he's perfect for her- in every way except one: he's a free spirit. And after six years in one place. doing a job he despises, he is compelled to do something that will tear apart his relationship with Same: book a one-way flight to South America. But Sam isn't giving up without a fight. She has three months to persuade him to do the right thing. So, with the help of her friends Ellie and Jen, she hatches a plan to make him realize what he's giving up. A plan that involves dirty tricks, plotting and a single aim: to win him back. But by the time the tortured Jamie finally wakes up to what he's lost, a gorgeous new pretender has entered Sam's life. Which begs the question... does she still want him back?

The Angel at No. 33 by Polly Williams (Headline Review, 2nd February) Sophie cannot leave the people she loves. Her husband, Ollie- a man who once watered a houseplant for a year before realising it was plastic- is lost without her. Their son Freddie is so little. And her friend Jenny? There's something she desperately needs to know before it's too late.


Shadow Heir by Richelle Mead (Bantam Books, 2nd February) The Otherworld, a mystic land inextricably linked to our own- and balanced precariously on one woman's desperate courage...
Shaman-for-hire Eugenie Markam strives to keep the mortal realm safe from trespassing entities. But as the Thorn Land's prophecy-haunted queen, there's no refuge for her and her soon-to-be-born children when a mysterious blight begins to devastate the Otherworld... The spell-driven source of the blight isn't the only challenge to Eugenie's instincts. Fairy King Dorian is sacrificing everything to help, but Eugenie can't trust the synergy drawing them back together. The uneasy truce between her and her shape-shifter ex-lover Kiyo is endangered by secrets he can't- or won't- reveal. And as a formidable force rises to threaten the human world, Eugenie must use her own cursed fate as a weapon- and risk the ultimate sacrifice...


The Midwife of Venice by Roberta Rich (Ebury Press, 16th February) Hannah Levi is famed throughout Venice for her skills as a midwife but, as a Jew, the law forbids her from attending a Christian woman. However, when the Conti di Padovani appears at her door in the dead of the night to demand her services, Hannah's compassion is sorely tested. And with the handsome reward he is offering she could ransom back her imprisoned husband. But if she fails in her endeavours to save mother and child, will she be able to save herself, let alone her husband?

Between a Mother and her Child by Elizabeth Noble (Michael Joseph, 16th February) For Maggie and Bill it was love at first sight... One impulsive wedding later and with the arrival of three perfect children, Jake, Aly and Stan, the Barrett family seem to have it all. Until the day their world stops turning. When Jake dies suddenly, they're swept away on a tide of grief that fractures Maggie and Bill's marriage. She and the children are left clinging to the wreckage of their family. And they need help, because in her grief Maggie is in danger of losing Aly and Stan too. Enter Kate, housekeeper, companion and shoulder to cry on. She's here to pick up the pieces and fix what isn't completely broken. But can Maggie trust Kate? And why is Kate so keen to help? When Bill falls for another woman, Maggie realizes she will have to fight to put her family back together- but will they still want her?

77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz (Harper Collins) The Pendleton stands on the summit of Shadow Hill, a palace built in the late 19th century as a tycoon's dream home. But its grandeur has been scarred by episodes of madness, suicide and mass murder. Since being converted into luxury apartments in the '70's, however, the Pendleton has been at peace. For it's fortunate residents- among them ex-marine Bailey Hawk, songwriter Twyla Trahern and her young son Winny- the Pendleton is a sanctuary, its dark past all but forgotten. But now inexplicable shadows caper across walls, security cameras relay impossible images, phantom voices mutter in strange tongues, not-quite human figures lurk in the basement, elevators plunge into unknown depths. It seems that whatever drove past occupants to their unspeakable fates is at work again. As nightmare visions become real, a group of extraordinary individuals hold the key to humanity's destiny.

Book Review: The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

Welcome to Walls of Water, North Carolina, where secrets are thicker than the town's famous fog.
Once upon a time, Willa Jackson's family owned the beautiful house on top of the ridge. Now it symbolises her family's ruin and a legacy Willa longs to escape from.
Paxton Osgood also yearns to break free, especially from her parents' expectations and the heartbreak of unrequited love. Desperate for a distraction, she decides to restore the empty mansion to its former glory. But the discovery of a long buried secret, a friendship that defies time, and a touch of magic, will transform both women's lives in ways they could ever have expected.

I haven't read anything by Sarah Addison Allen before but I found The Peach Keeper really interesting. The book is set in North Carolina and centres around the characters of Willa Jackson and Paxton Osgood, two females with very different characters. Paxton has been restoring The Blue Ridge Madam, the big house overlooking the town, she wants to use it's grand re-opening as a hotel to celebrate the town's womens' society of which her grandmother and Willa's were founding members. For Willa, the old house represents the troubles in her family's past. The Jacksons used to own the house and it is something that Willa would rather not be reminded of. However, a human skull is discovered under the old peach tree in the grounds of the house and Willa and Paxton's surviving grandmother's suddenly have a lot of questions to answer.
I did find this book really interesting, I think it was the mysterious events of the past that kept me reading rather than what was happening in the present. For some reason I didn't really take to either Paxton or Willa as characters  but I still enjoyed the strong theme of friendship that the author explored through these two women.
The Peach Keeper is  extremely well written and Sarah Addison Allen is very good at presenting dysfunctional people and relationships. I wish I had taken to the main characters a little more but this won't put me off trying the author's other books.

Dot Scribbles rating: 3.5/5

Many thanks to Hodder for sending me a copy of the book to review, The Peach Keeper is published on Thursday 17th January.