BLOG TOUR: All Wrapped Up - Heidi Swain

In Wynbridge, the scent of autumn is on the breeze and love is in the air…

 

Clemmie Bennett has been renovating beautiful Rowan Cottage on the outskirts of the small town of Wynbridge, for eighteen months following a very public heartbreak back in her childhood hometown. The popular Instagram influencer, lost her husband, sold their home, and has been cosied up the Fens and living a very private life, but now she feels it’s time for a change.

 

A chance encounter with co-owner of The Cherry Tree Café, the bubbly Lizzie Dixon, pulls her into organizing Wynbridge’s first-ever Autumn Festival, and her once quiet life is soon a distant memory. With the whole town rallying behind the event, she discovers a new sense of purpose.

 

And when local vet Ash falls hard for Clemmie, she begins to wonder if she’s ready to move even further on from her past and fall in love again…

 

This autumn, cosy up with Heidi and this perfect seasonal romance. 

 

What did I think?

There is a Heidi Swain book for all seasons and her twenty-first novel All Wrapped Up is Heidi's first autumn book.  It is filled with colour, fun and community spirit and I adored my visit to the fictional Norfolk town of Wynbridge.

Reading a Heidi Swain novel is like catching up with old friends as there are returning characters from other books as well as an introduction to new characters in the current book.  Every book can be read as a standalone but it's lovely to recognise names from previous books I have read.

Clemmie loves autumn so much that she has an Instagram account dedicated to this colourful season.  After a tragedy in her personal life, she wants to remain anonymous and has moved to Wynbridge to heal at her own pace.  Wynbridge has a way of working its way into your heart and it isn't long before Clemmie becomes a valued member of the community when she is tasked with organising the Autumn Festival with the local vet Ash.

There is amazing chemistry between Clemmie and Ash but Clemmie has her reasons for keeping their relationship a platonic one.  The magic of Wynbridge might have other ideas though and rather than a 'will they/won't they' I got definite 'when will they' vibes.  Well it wouldn't be a Heidi Swain book without a good sprinkling of romance, would it?

Beautiful inside and out, All Wrapped Up is a veritable love letter to the often overlooked season of autumn and it left me with a smile on my face and a warm glow in my heart.  It has certainly made me fall in love with the season more after seeing it through Heidi's pumpkin coloured glasses.  I highly recommend that you snuggle up with Heidi Swain this autumn!  

I received an ARC to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from:

UK.Bookshop.org

Amazon

Follow the tour:

The Finery - Rachel Grosvenor

Tyranny is in the air in the city of Finer Bay, and Professor Wendowleen Cripcot would like to be left alone, thank you very much. The memories of the last one hundred years are quite enough to be getting on with, if only these young upstarts from the government body, The Finery, would stop trying to control her every move. 

With the eyes of a dictator upon her, there are not many places to hide...but Wendowleen has never been one to back down from a fight (just ask her pet wolf), and insurrection is brewing underground.

 

What did I think?

It's always a little daunting when I start a book in an unfamiliar genre but I knew from the very first page that I was going to love The Finery.  So, if you say you don't read fantasy then definitely make an exception for Rachel Grosvenor's fantastic debut novel.

Professor Wendoleen Cripcot is almost 101 years old but she still has her wits about her and she refuses to be told what to do, especially by that young whippersnapper, the Dictator.  Wendoleen is such a feisty character and I absolutely loved her and her pet wolf.  The character of Wolf is easily one of my favourite fictional animal characters and I loved his voracious appetite that added a wonderful sprinkly of humour throughout the novel.

As Finer Bay is a dictatorship, there's more than a hint of revolution bubbling beneath the surface and when The Finery captures Wendoleen in their crosshairs she has no alternative but to join the revolution.  I absolutely loved this part of the story and I could almost 'hear the people sing' as they rose up and made their voices heard.

Incredibly entertaining and so vividly written, it's very easy to forget that The Finery is a fantasy novel as I was so completely immersed in the story from start to finish.  The Finery isn't just a magnificent debut, it's a groundbreaking novel that has put fantasy firmly on my list of genres.  Put Rachel Grosvenor on your bookshelf and your watch list, readers!

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from:

UK.Bookshop.org

Amazon