Tag Archive | Boldwood Books

Chasing Dreams At Wagging Tails’ Dogs Home by Sarah Hope

Oct26

A Time For Miracles

Chasing Dreams At Wagging Tails Dogs’ Home by Sarah Hope is a perfectly charming contemporary novel that I loved.

The novel is set in December in Cornwall. The dogs’ home is a place for homeless dogs, with loving people who are determined to make a difference. The dogs’ home is the dream of the owner who established it thirty five years ago. She will always go the extra mile for the dogs, putting them above her own welfare. She has a huge philanthropic heart who just wants to do the best for the dogs.

A character returns to the dogs’ home of her childhood after a relationship breakdown. Here, she receives a warm welcome from both humans and dogs. As she puts the dogs first, her heart begins to heal.

The dogs know when they are loved. It is beautiful to see a bond develop between an abandoned puppy and an abandoned heart.

Family is important. Sometimes family is blood related and at other times it is people who love us. The dogs’ home functions as a family with the dogs at the heart.

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Finding Family At The Cornish Cove by Kim Nash

Oct16

Acts Of Kindness

Finding Family At The Cornish Cove by Kim Nash is a beautiful contemporary novel that I thoroughly enjoyed. It is the second book in the Cornish Cove series but can be read as a stand-alone.

This is a book about love, friendship and family. We see there are many types of family, just as there are many types of love – sibling, new love, old love, family love. Each is similar but different requiring different responses.

Likewise, families come in all different shapes and sizes. Family is those who love us. When we find family, we find home.

We see the deep grief that the loss of a mother brings. “There was a time… that I never thought I’d laugh again… I just existed in a little bubble of sadness.” We need to move beyond our grief and learn to live again. We fear losing sight of our loved one but they live on in our heart.

There is also the damage created by an absentee wife and mother. A family learned to live without her but there were emotional consequences as we see a teen learning to find her way.

We witness a character trying to live her mother’s dream, for fear of losing a memory but “this is where your memories are. In your heart and in your mind.” Her mother’s dream is enlarged when the lead character owns her own dream.

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Take Me Home by Beth Moran

Oct15

Learning To Live Again

Take Me Home by Beth Moran is a delightful contemporary novel that warmed my heart and made me smile.

The novel is about friendship and love. The fragrance of love wafts over the whole novel. It is a love between friends that brings out the best in each other. It is a love that looks for goodness. It is a love that builds up and doesn’t tear down. It is a love that gives strength and encouragement to others, helping them to live abundantly free.

A character is suffering from a trauma that has held her captive for years. She has hidden from the world, never getting close to anyone for fear that they would leave. A locked-up heart is free from new hurts but cocooned in old pain. The locks need to be severed and a character needs to learn to take a chance on love and begin to live again.

We see the hurt that so-called family members inflicted on a life – literally and figuratively locking a character up and damaging her for decades.

We see a love that does not die. The years pass but the love remains.

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The House Keeper by Valerie Keogh

Oct10

Atmospheric & Gripping

The House Keeper by Valerie Keogh is an absolutely gripping contemporary psychological suspense that I just could not put down.

It was very atmospheric. It employed techniques from the Gothic tradition with an isolated, long forgotten house. The hairs on my head definitely rose at times, especially on the moonless nights when the action ramped up. The house became a character in its own right as it refused to yield its secrets.

All the characters were well drawn and realistic. An air of suspicion and mistrust wafted over many as I wondered just who was hiding what? Whispers in the night and huddled secrets need to come out.

Guilt and grief surrounded a newly widowed character. She felt burdened and was hiding a guilty secret. All was not as it seemed.

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