Emma's Review: The Midwife at Ivy Cottage by Rebecca Alexander

Reviewed by Emma Crowley

After heartbreak turned her world upside down, Imogen was forced to leave her nursing job and the life she had built behind. Now she has come to a beautiful countryside village, where she’s renovating a tumbledown cottage she hopes to call home. She never imagined the wartime secrets it’s hiding. Or that working alongside Jaz, the warm-hearted, handsome local builder with a kind smile, will make her light up in a way she hasn’t for a long time…

Hidden inside the cottage she discovers the photograph of a baby, and the incredible story of Julia, a midwife who once lived at Ivy Cottage. Julia devoted her life to caring for the village’s mothers and babies during World War Two, at a time when every birth was full of danger. Including a tiny infant who she was determined to save…

As Imogen pieces together the little boy’s story and Julia’s extraordinary courage, she begins to confront the loss she has buried for so long. With Jaz by her side, could Ivy Cottage finally be the place where her heart begins to heal?

Book Links: Kindle 

Emma's Review: The Hidden Letter at Bluebell Farm by Rebecca Alexander

Reviewed by Emma Crowley

Arriving at Bluebell Farm in the English countryside, historian Tasha has never felt more alone. Her twins have left for university, her marriage is over, and she’s said goodbye to the place she thought would always be her home. Exploring the tumbledown farm and striking up a friendship with elderly Maud, whose prickly exterior masks a warm heart, offers the distraction Tasha desperately needs.

Together with Ryan, a silver-haired, motorbike-riding archaeologist, Tasha digs into the farm’s history. Soon she finds faded photographs and a sealed, yellowing letter that calls to her. But Maud’s eyes fill with tears as she insists the long-lost letter must never be opened. Could it be from Maud’s father, who went missing after the Second World War?

Intrigued by the stories hidden behind Maud’s sharp blue eyes, Tasha and Ryan unearth a heart-wrenching secret. Maud’s father’s disappearance is not the only mystery hidden on this farm. If Maud reads the letter after all these years, will it reveal all?

And with Maud’s encouragement, can Tasha have a second chance at love with kind-hearted Ryan? Or will the heartache in their own pasts keep them apart? 

Book Link: Kindle 

Emma's Review: Memories of Heather House by Rebecca Alexander

 Reviewed by Emma Crowley

When Ruby inherits her family’s crumbling old house in the wild English countryside, she is devastated to think it might be sold. Heather House was once an artists’ haven filled with Ruby’s family and their colourful friends. Ruby has always been captivated by the glamorous Clara, a famous pilot whose love story came to a tragic end. Now black-and-white photographs transport her back to World War Two…

With the future of Heather House uncertain, Ruby loses herself in history. But it seems romance is not only a thing of the past when Jake, a jumper-clad American author with silver-flecked hair turns up at her door. Jake is investigating a wartime mystery about Clara, and he soon falls in love with the historic home. But when Clara shows him a view of the moors ablaze under the setting sun, his dark green eyes cause another flame to spark …

Together Ruby and Jake begin to unravel the secret hidden in the past. But can they find a way to save Heather House, or will Ruby be forced to sell it before the truth about Clara is at last unearthed and her new love has a chance to bloom?

Book Links: Kindle or Paperback

Emma's Review: Secrets of Foxglove Cottage by Rebecca Alexander

Reviewed by Emma Crowley

When Zosia arrives at Foxglove Cottage holding her small son’s hand in hers, she is desperate for a new beginning. Her new job is to help seventy-year-old Hazel transform her tumbledown cottage and re-open the enchanting old café, steeped in folklore. Hazel is warm and welcoming, but Zosia can never share the truth about why she has left her own home.

When neighbourly Leon, a bear of a man with deep brown eyes, arrives to help them restore the cafe, Zosia can’t help falling for his rugged charm. But her heart has been shattered before, so she distracts herself by translating an old diary that’s been in Hazel’s family for generations. She discovers an extraordinary love story hidden in the yellowing pages. It pulls her back into World War Two, as if the past is whispering through the garden’s tangled vines and the granite cottage walls. Could the old wartime romance help broken-hearted Zosia believe in soulmates again?

Zosia longs to open up to Hazel and Leon but if her past catches up with her it could ruin everything. When she uncovers the diary’s long buried secret, will it help her let go of her own past? Or, when she receives a letter that threatens everything she holds dear, will she be forced to leave Foxglove Cottage for good?

Book Links: Kindle or Paperback