Emma's Review: A Gift from the Cottage by the Loch by Kennedy Kerr

Reviewed by Emma Crowley

When Bel Tipton catches her husband cheating on her, the devastating betrayal sends her running to her sister Sally in the beautiful village of Loch Cameron. Bel needs Sally’s warm laugh and sage advice now more than ever, and she knows curling up with her on the sofa and gossiping late into the night will make her feel whole again.

Bel did not expect her rented cottage overlooking the loch to come with handsome gardener Christian McDougal, and she’s determined to be unmoved by his flirty smile and broad shoulders. The last thing she needs is another man she can’t trust. But when Bel sees an empty storefront on the high street for rent, it’s Christian who notices how her eyes light up. He encourages her to set up a business in the village and she realises he’s everything her ex was not.

Then Bel hears a rumour in town that Christian is not all he seems. And, clearing out her store, she finds a collection of letters tied with a worn blue ribbon stashed on a high shelf in the back room. The letters reveal a devastating secret that shook the village generations ago, and Christian’s family are at the heart of it…

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Blogiversary Giveaway: Win a signed copy of The Things We Left Unsaid by Emma Kennedy

This weekend was a very busy bookish one for me as it was the weekend of Salisbury Literary Festival which I've been blogging about for the last month, so along with Karen from Hair Past A Freckle we went to 4 author events on Saturday and a charity event on Sunday night in aid of The Trussell Trust Food Bank. 

One of the events I was looking forward to was Emma Kennedy in conversation with Caroline Smailes and it certainly didn't disappoint. Emma had the audience in hysterics with her recollection of her earliest memory... let's just say it was a song you wouldn't expect a 3-year-old to sing 🤣

My original intention had been to review The Things We Left Unsaid, as I had previously bought the ebook, alongside this giveaway but sadly time caught up with me and I didn't get a chance to read it beforehand so a review will follow at a later date. So today you could win this duplicate copy of The Things We Left Unsaid that Emma kindly signed on Saturday.

Rachel’s relationship with her mother Eleanor has always been far from perfect. Eleanor is a renowned artist forged in the swinging sixties, and Rachel has forever lived in the shadow of her success.

Spotlight on Salisbury Literary Festival 2019

Next month sees the return of Salisbury Literary Festival which is now in its third year of running, it's great having a festival featuring something I love 📚 in my home city that I can support. I've already bought tickets for a couple of events on the Saturday and have a few other events that I still need to buy tickets for. Last year festival director Tom Bromley wrote a post talking about how the festival came to fruition, which you can read here, so today I have decided to shine the spotlight on a few of the events that are taking place this year (full schedule of events can be downloaded here).

The festival kicks off on Friday 18th October with three events; a Walking Book Group tour of Avebury with local archeologist and author Nicola Ford talking about the inspiration of her novel The Hidden Bones, a 'Salisbury Greats' talk at the library about Michael Gilbert, founder of the Crime Writers' Association, and the headliner event, and one my friend wants me to go to with her, is Jung Chang at Salisbury Cathedral.

Jung Chang is the author of the award-winning bestseller Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China which has sold over 13 million copies to date. Jung Chang’s latest book, published in October, is Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister, telling the story of the influential Soong sisters, three women who in their different ways shaped the course of modern Chinese history.