Second Chance Summer by Phillipa Ashley

 

Second Chance Summer by Phillipa Ashley.

Published 6th June 2024 by Penguin.

From the cover of the book:

From the moment Lily Harper arrives at a remote retreat on the breath-taking Scilly Isles, she is itching to get back to civilisation - and her thriving business.

Slowing down simply isn't in her vocabulary, and so she quickly clashes with the gorgeous but dour Sam who runs the retreat.

Just as Lily is about to give up and leave, disaster strikes, and she is involved in an incident that changes her perspective on everything.

Lily is no longer sure she wants to return to the life she thought she loved. But will she have the courage to give the retreat, and Sam, a second chance?

***********

Lily's craft business, Lily Loves, is thriving, but with success has come its share of anxiety inducing bad press that she is finding it hard to deal with. Since the death of her sister, Lily has thrown herself into her work at the expense of every other aspect of her life. She simply does not know how to stop, but the time has come for her to take a break before she falls apart. Her faithful PA Richie arranges for her to take a couple of well-deserved weeks off at a brand new retreat in the Isles of Scilly, but when she gets there the 'exclusive' resort she was expecting actually turns out to be a tiny, unfinished complex on the remote island of Stark.

Miserable and struggling with being away from her business, Lily gets off on the wrong foot with the handsome, but distant, Sam who runs the retreat. She is determined to leave as soon as she can, but her departure is delayed by an accident that unexpectedly brings her closer to Sam, and gives her a glimpse of the man that lies beneath the dour exterior. With new perspective on her life and surroundings, Lily begins to wonder if she really wants to return to the high pressure life she thought she loved. Can Sam, and Stark, bring the opportunity for a second chance?

Phillipa Ashley once more hits her stride in a lovely escapist adventure to the beautiful Isles of Scilly, which is all about love, loss, and second chances. Overworked, and emotionally unavailable Lily has not 'lived' her life for years, but when she is forced against her will to spend time away from her high pressure existence, the possibility of a different kind of future presents itself. Rescued from a sticky situation by the heroic actions of strong, silent Sam, Lily sees that he is actually a man with hidden depths, and the spark of romance begins to burn.

Of course things are never that simple... both Lily and Sam have a lot of preoccupying issues to work through on the way to the happy ending you are hoping for. Ashley does a wonderful job of racking up beautifully contrived romantic suspense, weaving the threads of several storylines around the couple about family, friendship, and running a business that have real heart and soul - and show the picturesque delights, history and tight knit communities of the Scilly Isles off to perfection. There are some enchanting characters to cherish, who evoke laughter and tears before the gorgeous ending rolls around, and I really enjoyed how the theme of art and handmade crafts runs through the whole story.

This book hits the sun, secrets, scenery, and sentimental spot I yearn for in a summer read - and it will have you longing to discover the delights of the Scilly Isles too. 

About the author:

Phillipa Ashley is a Sunday Times, Amazon and Audible best-selling author of uplifting romantic fiction.

After studying English at Oxford University, she worked as a copywriter and journalist before turning her hand to writing. Since then, her novels have sold well over a million copies and have been translated into numerous languages.

Phillipa lives in an English village with her husband, has a grown-up daughter and loves nothing better than walking the Lake District hills and swimming in Cornish coves.

Dead Ground (Spoils Of War Book Nine) by Graham Hurley

 

Dead Ground (Spoils of War Book Nine) by Graham Hurley.

Published 4th July 2024 by Aries.

From the cover of the book:

A young British nurse experiences the devastating Spanish Civil War and the dark side of the espionage game in this gripping World War Two thriller from Graham Hurley.

1936. Anglo-Breton translator Annie Wrenne is working in Madrid when the Spanish Civil War breaks out. Annie becomes a nurse on the front line, but after falling in love with a patient, she ends up pregnant - and abandoned - by a man she thought she knew.

Annie passes the rest of the war in a haze, her only consolation her relationship with mysterious Republican fighter Carlos Ortega. Annie finds herself caught up in Ortega's world, a web of intrigue, which leads to her recruitment into MI5.

On her first mission, Annie must pose as Ortega's wife and head to Algeciras. Hitler's Operation Felix - his plan to control the Mediterranean and force Churchill to the negotiating table - has been set into motion, and the 'couple' must help prevent the Nazis from seizing Gibraltar.

But Ortega has secretly been working for the Nationalists, part of Madrid's Fifth Column. If it falls to Annie - and Ortega - to save the day for the Allied cause, can she trust a man who has changed sides yet again?

From award-winning author Graham Hurley, the latest thrilling instalment in the Spoils of War Collection, a non-chronological series of novels set during World War II and featuring some of the most momentous stories and figures of the era.

***********

Madrid, 1936. Translator Annie Wrenne is pulled into a bloody conflict when the Spanish Civil War breaks out. Being Anglo-Breton, Annie is used to divided loyalties, however nothing has prepared her for what she sees when she takes a job as a nurse on the front line. The last thing on her mind is falling in love, but when she meets a charming Englishman recuperating from his wounds, the stolen moments they share develop into a passionate romance.

When Annie is betrayed by her lover, she drifts through the grisly haze of wartime in an exhausted trance, until another patient, Republican fighter, Carlos Ortega (known mysteriously as El Diablo) introduces her to the undercover world of espionage. With the Spanish Civil War over, and the country in tatters, Annie's language skills make her ideally placed to help with the conflict now waging in the rest of Europe. Recruited by M15 operative Tam Moncrief, she becomes part of a vital mission to prevent the Nazis getting a foothold in Gibraltar. But can she trust her partner El Diablo...?

Dead Ground is the ninth novel in the spectacular non-chronological Spoils of War series by Graham Hurley, which explores fascinating aspects of World War II and related conflicts. There are recurring characters in these books, who you meet at different stages in their murky careers, but these can be read as stand-alone novels.

This time, Hurley turns his considerable insight and writing talent towards the Spanish Civil War and the impact this had on the Second World War that followed in its wake - especially the time when the fate of Great Britain lay in the balance as the Nazis swept across Europe in a seemingly unstoppable tide. With his familiar style of seamlessly mixing fact and fiction, filling in the gaps of momentous moments in World War II history, Hurley begins by immersing you in the bloody mess of civil war. Hurley holds nothing back of the chaos and horror of the conflict that set Spaniard against Spaniard, by looking at events through the eyes of Anglo-Breton translator-turned-nurse Annie Wrenne (a character we got to know very well in the previous book The Blood of Others, which was set later in World War II). Annie's perspective is important, as it focuses the eye on the part played by non-Spaniards in the war, and how Spain later became a pivotal territorial asset. Her role as a broken-hearted go-between opens up an opportunity to become involved in so much more than putting broken bodies back together, when her intensely personal story blows wide open...

Meanwhile, plots are afoot in Europe to gain advantage in the war Hitler's ambitions have given birth to, and Hurley introduces more familiar fictional, and real life, characters from the series to weave multiple storylines, that eventually bring in Annie and her dubious comrade Ortega. Hitler wants access to Gibraltar (Operation Felix), MI5 agent Moncrief must lead the mission to prevent this, and within Germany itself the unhappy relationship between old school Admiral Wilhelm Canaris' Abwehr intelligence service and the upstarts of Heinrich Himmler's single-minded SS goons is causing internal strife. What follows is a rollicking blend of delicious espionage shenanigans, military machinations, a touch and go assassination affair, and a highly entertaining stolen art caper, that is as thrilling as it is enlightening.

Hurley really brings the past alive, bringing all the complex threads together in an orgy of twists and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat, and allow you to understand the kind of scheming that goes on in the shadows of the events history records. In this case, I am surprised by how little I did know about Operation Felix and its importance. And how he uses shades of meaning of the cracking title, Dead Ground (an area hidden from direct fire), in so many aspects of this gripping novel is truly impressive. 

This is my absolute go-to series when it comes to understanding the history of World War II and its related conflicts. I am always in awe of the way he writes about these recurring characters so beautifully, to fit in with what you may (or may not) know about the events in the past and future in the other books. This is the fifth of the books I have read in the Spoils of War series so far, and I have thoroughly enjoyed each and every one.

Dead Ground is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to head of Zeus for ending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Ransom PR for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Graham Hurley worked for ITV for fifteen years as an award winning documentary director/producer. Networked documentaries included the discovery and filming of the seabed remains of the Titanic; Richard Branson's near-fatal crossing of the North Atlantic in a hot-air balloon; an investigative account of the Brighton bombing; four freezing weeks in the high Canadian Arctic exploring the last of the Eskimo culture; plus revisionist documentaries on the retreat to Dunkirk (Comrades in Arms) and the post D-Day thrust into Europe (The War Within).

Graham is the author of the acclaimed Faraday and Winter crime novels. Two of the critically lauded series have been shortlisted for the Theakston's Old Peculiar Award for Best Crime Novel. The first Wars Within novel, Finisterre, was shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize.