Book Review: The Christmas Calendar Girls by Samantha Tonge

The Christmas Calendar Girls

 by Samantha Tonge

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU

Apple Books / GP / Kobo

This Christmas fall in love with the town of Chesterwood...

Christmas is meant to be a time of giving, so with Chesterwood food bank under risk of closure Fern knows just what to do to save it. She's going to get the town to create a living advent calendar.

Fern and her best friends call for help from the local community to bring this calendar to life. When Kit, the new man in town, offers his assistance Fern's heart can't help but skip a beat (or two).

As they grow ever closer, Fern must admit that Kit's breaking down the barriers she built after the death of her husband. But his past is holding him back and Fern doesn't know how to reach him. No matter how hard she tries.

In this town, Kit's not the only one with secrets. Domestic goddess Cara is behaving oddly, burning meals in the oven and clothes whilst ironing, and Davina's perfect children are causing trouble at school leaving her son, Jasper, desperately unhappy.

Can the Christmas Calendar Girls find a way to bring the community together in time to save the food bank, while still supporting their families and each other? Can Fern find love again with Kit?

This is a story about kindness and letting go of the past. It's about looking out for your neighbours and about making every day feel like Christmas.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Davina stood up and gave me a piercing stare that only a mother of twins could master.



The best sorts of friends were good at turning me into we.



It felt as if a light bulb switched on in my chest whenever I saw him, like that magical sensation as a child when you discover the tooth fairy has visited.



I took out my phone, brushed my hair and took a selfie. The strained smile made me look like a convict. So I took twenty more and finally created one that didn’t suggest I’d turn up to a date hiding an axe. Then I created a profile on Tinder. Not words I ever thought I’d be saying…




My Review:

This was a fun and easy read with relevant real-world issues, heart-squeezes, insightful observations, and clever levity in equal measure. While battling overwhelming odds to raise funds to continue a charitable operation, the overall tone of the story was decidedly upbeat with hard-won lessons and positive outcomes all around. I enjoyed the creativity and everydayness of the characters as well as the entertaining storylines, and relatable conflicts and concerns. Ms. Tonge’s poignant writing is laced together with such perceptive watchfulness; her stories are a learning experience as well as an entertaining one.

About The Author

Samantha Tonge lives in Manchester UK and her passion, second to spending time with her husband and children, is writing. She studied German and French at university and has worked abroad, including a stint at Disneyland Paris. She has traveled widely.

When not writing she passes her days cycling, baking and drinking coffee. Samantha has sold many dozens of short stories to women’s magazines.

In 2013, she landed a publishing deal for romantic comedy fiction with HQDigital at HarperCollins and in 2014, her bestselling debut novel, Doubting Abbey, was shortlisted for the Festival of Romantic Fiction best Ebook award. In 2015 her summer novel, Game of Scones, hit #5 in the UK Kindle chart and won the Love Stories Awards Best Romantic Ebook category.

Links

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SamTongeWriter
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/SamanthaTongeAuthor
Website: http://samanthatonge.co.uk/

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Book Review: Knowing You by Samantha Tonge

 Knowing You

by Samantha Tonge

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU /

B&N / iBooks / Kobo / Google

An abrupt change; a new friendship; a dark secret...

Kind-hearted Violet has never fitted in, but despite being bullied at school is now content. She is dating ambitious Lenny, has her dream job in publishing and runs a book club at the local retirement home.

However, when her relationship with Lenny begins to falter, Violet, hurt and alone, seeks the advice of her new flatmate, Bella. She changes her image and with her head held high aims to show that she doesn’t need Lenny in her life to be happy and successful.

Her long-term friends Mable and Farah worry about Bella’s influence and slowly Violet starts to distance herself from them. When she was a child, her closest confidant and companion was a boy called Flint. Her mother didn’t approve of their closeness and he suffered a terrible end. She won’t let the same thing happen to Bella, no matter what anyone says...

Knowing You is about friendship and knowing who to trust with your deepest secrets; it’s about taking control of your life and not being afraid to stand out. Perfect for fans of Ruth Hogan, Gail Honeyman, and Amanda Prowse

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

My first love was an assistant manager at the local bookshop where I had a Saturday job. It was then that I realised the most attractive thing about a man was the width of his reading list.

Uncle Kevin got headhunted. Sounds scary, doesn’t it? Makes me think of my favourite Horrid Henry story about cannibals. It means he got offered a job in America, the place where people eat bacon with pancakes, do cheerleading and own guns.

I need help persuading Farah that there is no health scare big enough to warrant switching to soya milk.

I have a habit of calling on people at the worst moment. Like when Gran’s in the middle of putting on her tights or my brother has just plastered his face with shaving foam.

If she were an item of stationery, she’d be a stapler. Uncomplicated and unassuming but holding everything together.

I try not to think about it. But when I look in the mirror, I worry. I worry that the woman staring back isn’t me. She’s a stranger and I can’t find an instruction manual.

  

My Review:

Knowing You was an exceptionally engaging and thoughtfully written tale.  I was intensely absorbed and quickly entranced by the ever enticing and smoothly fluent flow of the writing as well as the captivating narrative.  Ms. Tonge’s emotive and nimble writing style deftly hit all the feels while peeling back an elegant vulnerability of the highly sympathetic character of Violet at different ages and timelines.  Her poignant storylines were ingeniously paced, cunningly crafted, vibrantly detailed, and adroitly evocative.  I was so impressed I raced to Goodreads and added her entire backlist on my TBR.  

In addition to a new favorite author to fangirl, I also garnered two new additions to my Brit Word List with bedsit – which appears to be what I know as a studio apartment, and collywobbles - which appears to have several meanings such as nervousness and/or a queasy stomach.

Empress DJ



About Samantha Tonge

Samantha Tonge lives in Manchester UK and her passion, second to spending time with her husband and children, is writing. She studied German and French at university and has worked abroad, including a stint at Disneyland Paris. She has traveled widely.

When not writing she passes her days cycling, baking and drinking coffee. Samantha has sold many dozens of short stories to women’s magazines. 

In 2013, she landed a publishing deal for romantic comedy fiction with HQDigital at HarperCollins and in 2014, her bestselling debut novel, Doubting Abbey, was shortlisted for the Festival of Romantic Fiction best Ebook award. In 2015 her summer novel, Game of Scones, hit #5 in the UK Kindle chart and won the Love Stories Awards Best Romantic Ebook category.

Links

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SamTongeWriter

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/SamanthaTongeAuthor

Website: http://samanthatonge.co.uk/

Cover Reveal: Knowing You by Samantha Tonge

Knowing You 

by Samantha Tonge

Amazon US / UK  / CA / AU

 iBooks / Kobo / GPlay

An abrupt change; a new friendship; a dark secret...

Kind-hearted Violet has never fitted in, but despite being bullied at school is now content. She is dating ambitious Lenny, has her dream job in publishing and runs a book club at the local retirement home.



However, when her relationship with Lenny begins to falter, Violet, hurt and alone, seeks the advice of her new flatmate, Bella. She changes her image and with her head held high aims to show that she doesn’t need Lenny in her life to be happy and successful.



Her long-term friends Mable and Farah worry about Bella’s influence and slowly Violet starts to distance herself from them. When she was a child, her closest confidant and companion was a boy called Flint. Her mother didn’t approve of their closeness and he suffered a terrible end. She won’t let the same thing happen to Bella, no matter what anyone says...



Knowing You is about friendship and knowing who to trust with your deepest secrets; it’s about taking control of your life and not being afraid to stand out. Perfect for fans of Ruth Hogan, Gail Honeyman and Amanda Prowse

About Samantha Tonge

Samantha Tonge lives in Manchester UK and her passion, second to spending time with her husband and children, is writing. She studied German and French at university and has worked abroad, including a stint at Disneyland Paris. She has traveled widely.

When not writing she passes her days cycling, baking and drinking coffee. Samantha has sold many dozens of short stories to women’s magazines.

In 2013, she landed a publishing deal for romantic comedy fiction with HQDigital at HarperCollins and in 2014, her bestselling debut novel, Doubting Abbey, was shortlisted for the Festival of Romantic Fiction best Ebook award. In 2015 her summer novel, Game of Scones, hit #5 in the UK Kindle chart and won the Love Stories Awards Best Romantic Ebook category.

Links

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SamTongeWriter

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SamanthaTongeAuthor

Website: http://samanthatonge.co.uk/

Book Review: Forgive Me Not by Samantha Tonge

Forgive Me Not

by Samantha Tonge

Goodreads

Amazon UK  / US / B&N / 

 Kobo /  Google / iBooks

Forgiveness can be hard to come by… An unputdownable new novel from bestseller Samantha Tonge

How far would you go to make amends?

When Emma fled her home at Foxglove Farm, she’d let down and hurt those who cared for her most. But now, two years later, she’s ready to face up to her past; she’s ready to go back.

But Emma’s unannounced return causes more problems than she could have foreseen. The people she knew and loved aren’t ready to forget, let alone forgive. And the one person she wants to reconnect with the most, her mother, can’t remember who she is.

Just as Emma starts to rebuild trust, an uncovered family secret and a shocking past crime threaten her newly forged future...

Sometimes simply saying sorry isn’t enough.

Perfect for readers of Ruth Hogan or Amanda Prowse, this is an extraordinary and unforgettable novel about running away from yourself – and finding a way back.

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:


Forgiving isn’t so easy, is it? You’ve waltzed back into our lives expecting us to say that we understand. That we’ll forget what happened in the past. Now you know what it feels like to be hurt irrevocably by someone you love. How difficult it is to understand how they could do that.


My Review:


Forgive Me Not was not what I was expecting, it really wasn’t my cup of tea as my personal preference is to eschew high angst and constant conflict. Yet the book was well written and a thought-provoking family drama, and certainly gave me pause in my own thinking as it squeezed my heart and put a few hot rocks in my throat.  Having dealt with more than my share of addicted and/or prevaricating personalities, I had a hard time appreciating the main character of Emma.  Emma had been a rather heinous problem child and abandoned her family after causing and leaving them with yet another appallingly hideous mess.  She was the worst type of manipulative and selfish party girl and had been for quite some time.  After she finally hit bottom and found an impetus to clean up in rehab, she slowly and carefully went about her recovery and sincerely attempted to make amends, but she didn’t seem to fully realize just how much she needed to atone for.

Emma returned to her small village but not to the open arms she was hoping for; her family and the entire community at large were having none of it as they were struggling with their own hard times - and they were more than done with Emma.  Every single one of them doubted her veracity, and for good reason.  I didn’t blame them.  Not one bit.  I’ve jettisoned people for far less.  But it was rather unnerving for me to consider if maybe, possibly, I should have given some of those a third chance.  Although this was probably Emma’s thousandth chance… But there are some acts that cut extra deep and just aren’t forgivable, and Emma had committed far too many of those, and repeatedly, and to my horror - with little consequence.

The writing was insightfully observant and evocative with several interesting storylines involving the small and quirky little village and its unique inhabitants.  To end on an upbeat, I do have yet another new addition for my Brit List with “mithering,” which Mr. Google defined as to irritate or pester.  I cannot wait to start employing its use.

Empress DJ

About Samantha Tonge

Samantha Tonge lives in Manchester UK and her passion, second to spending time with her husband and children, is writing. She studied German and French at university and has worked abroad, including a stint at Disneyland Paris. She has traveled widely.

When not writing she passes her days cycling, baking and drinking coffee. Samantha has sold many dozens of short stories to women’s magazines.

In 2013, she landed a publishing deal for romantic comedy fiction with HQDigital at HarperCollins and in 2014, her bestselling debut novel, Doubting Abbey, was shortlisted for the Festival of Romantic Fiction best Ebook award. In 2015 her summer novel, Game of Scones, hit #5 in the UK Kindle chart and won the Love Stories Awards Best Romantic Ebook category.

Links

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SamTongeWriter

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SamanthaTongeAuthor

Website: http://samanthatonge.co.uk/