Tishylou's World

I actually can't believe we're at the end of another year. 2015 has been full of highs and lows, happiness and sadness. There have been some amazing moments and times I wish I could erase, but at the end of the day, these moments are what make me Me. I have reconnected with one of my best friends this year. We have known each other since I moved here but we kind of drifted apart for a couple of years. But this year, she's been through a lot of changes and they have brought her back to my life and I couldn't be happier. She's my fellow book worm, junk food/crap tv loving Lady and I'm so glad she's back! YOLO bus has evolved more and has become a lovely, cosy home for us. There's still work to do (floor and windows mainly) but I love it and the possibilities it has opened up for us. We are far more relaxed and settled now and have much more freedom to spend time doing the things we love. 2015 has also brought me some of the best books I have ever rea...

Description ; "In the early years, she was happy. Romilly had worked hard for her stunning, modern house in one of Bristol's most fashionable suburbs. She adored her gorgeous, gap-toothed daughter and her kind and handsome husband. Sure, life was sometimes exhausting - but nothing that a large glass of wine at the end of the day couldn't fix. But then, as deep-buried insecurities surfaced, everything started to unravel. A glass of wine became a bottle; one bottle became two. Once, Romilly's family were everything to her. Now, after years of hiding the drinking, she must finally admit that she has found another love..." What I Say: I hadn't planned on posting my review of Another Love by Amanda Prowse yet as the book isn't out until (I believe) 16th January. However, I posted a brief review on Goodreads and Amanda has been sharing it on other social media so I thought she wouldn't mind. Another Love is a stunning, emotionally intense story of a wo...

Welcome to Tishylou's Books of the Year 2015! Well, can you believe it's that time of year again?? Christmas is fast approaching and with it, another New Year! I can't quite believe how quickly time has flown by... I've read some absolutely amazing books these past 12 months, though sadly haven't been able to blog about them nearly as much as I would have liked. I've decided to do things a little differently this year. I have chosen my favourite books in a few categories and then I will list my Top Reads of the Year in no particular order, then tell you my Book of the Year. I have also decided to include Audiobooks as this is something I have begun listening to and reviewing. So without further adieu..... NEW AUTHOR DISCOVERY - There are two authors who I have found this year and am totally hooked on both of their works now. Jenny Hale (Bookouture) - I kind of randomly picked Christmas Wishes and Mistletoe Kisses from my Kindle Christmas list. I was...

I feel I owe you lovely, patient lot an apology and an explanation for my silence. I know I've said it many times before, but real life gets in the way. I've never been one of those people who can multi task. When life is tough, I shut down. I don't read, I don't write. I cry, I shout at my fiancé and I let my work and hobbies slide. Nothing bad has happened, we're not going through anything.  I'm just kind of stuck. I'm not in my right head and I don't know how to get back. I have read a few festive books but don't have the energy to write the reviews they deserve. I will do it. I will get over whatever this is. But for now, carry on.  ;)

Welcome to the first of my Festive Book Reviews. I know I'm starting early, but with the number of Christmas books I have to read, I had to start a few weeks ago. It seemed too early to post any before Halloween (my personal belief is that Christmas can't begin until after Halloween and Halloween can't begin before Thanksgiving, which is the beginning of October for Canadians) so my first few reviews will follow in quick succession hopefully and then become more regular until after the Holidays. The first book I picked up was Christmas Wishes and Mistletoe Kisses by Jenny Hale. This was published by Bookouture on 15 Oct 2015. What They Say: Single mother Abbey Fuller loves her family more than anything, and doesn’t regret for a moment having had to put her dreams of being an interior designer on hold. But with her son, Max, growing up, when a friend recommends her for a small design job she jumps at the chance. How hard can it be? Nick Sinclair needs his house...

Today I am SUPER EXCITED to share with you my Christmas Q&A with Lisa Dickenson, author extraordinaire. So here we go! What drink says Christmas for you? Lisa:  Baileeeyyyyyyys – it’s the best best best and I would like some now, please.   Trish:  I'm a Baileys girl! But traditionally, it's always been eggnog (non - alcoholic).   Q: What's your most treasures Christmas gift you ever received?   Lisa:  That’s a hard one… Does the engagement ring I got a week before Christmas in 2010 count? Yes, yes it does!   Trish:  The flowered blanket my Mum crocheted and gave me the last Xmas before she passed. It's gorgeous and I love it!   Q: What's your fave festive song?   Lisa:  So many!  I love Last Christmas by Wham for it’s wonderful cheese-factor.   Trish: O Holy Night sung by Reba McEntire. Just beautiful and gives me goosebumps.   Q: What’s your fave movie to watch on Christmas...

Today on the blog, I've got a great piece written by the one and only Diane Chamberlain to correspond with the release of her new novel Pretending to Dance.   Pretend Therapy: Fake it till You Make It by Diane Chamberlain  Throughout much of my early life, I was phobic about all things medical. I refused to visit friends and family members in the hospital. I avoided movies where blood or gore might be on the screen. And as I attended graduate school for my masters degree in social work, I avoided classes where there might be a preponderance of medical social work students. I didn’t want to hear about their cases. I’d grown up with phobias aplenty and gotten rid of most of them, but as I approached the age of thirty, the fear of hospitals and all things medical persisted.   Then everything changed.   I was thirty years old and working in a youth counseling agency when my best friend was murdered in her home. In my devastation, I had one recurrin...

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for the gorgeously sparkly A Parcel for Anna Browne! I am a huge fan of Miranda Dickinson and her books are sure to bring a smile to my face so this book had me excited from the word go! What They Say: The gift of a lifetime? Anna Browne is an ordinary woman living an ordinary life. Her day job as a receptionist in bustling London isn't exactly her dream, yet she has everything she wants. But someone thinks Anna Browne deserves more . . . When a parcel addressed to Anna arrives, she has no idea who has sent it. Inside she finds a beautiful gift - one that is designed to be seen. And so begins a series of incredible deliveries, each one bringing Anna further out of the shadows and encouraging her to become the woman she was destined to be. As Anna grows in confidence, others begin to notice her - and her life starts to change. But who is sending the mysterious gifts, and why? What I Say: Right from the beginning, this book had me hook...

Hi! Well, I've been very busy reading and this is the 3rd book I have read in a month! That is a lot for me! So, here is my review for Five Go Glamping by Liz Tipping/ What They Say: Glamping Check list Festival tickets Double check best Instagram filter Avoid thinking about work/Connor/five year plan!! A four day break from her hectic life to relax in the countryside and hang out at a local festival (for free!) is just what Fiona Delaney needs. With her best friends, great tunes and a cool looking hat her Instagram shots are going to look A-Mazing! Until suddenly glamping starts to feel a lot more like camping and Fiona’s in desperate search of a comfy chair, wi-fi and a chilled glass of wine. But when she finally makes it to the local pub she discovers this trip could be more than just a holiday, it might just change her life forever… What I Say: As I said in my previous post about this book, it intrigued me simply due to the fact that it was about Glamping and there...

Welcome to my Review of the incredible What Milo Saw by Virginia MacGregor What They Say: A BIG story about a small boy who sees the world a little differently Milo curled his thumb and forefinger together to make a small hole and held his fingers up to Al's eyes. 'Look through here. That's what I see. Kind of, only worse.' 'Wow, that must be amazing.' Milo shrugged. 'Not really.' 'I mean, it makes you focus, doesn't it? I bet you see all kinds of stuff that other people miss.' What I Say: I really wasn't sure what to expect when I started reading this book. I had heard nothing but praise for it but just really had no idea... Milo is an incredible little boy. He's 9 years old and he sees things differently to us. This makes him just completely astonishing to me! He's so clever! He's intuitive, gutsy, kind, caring, honest and sensitive. He cares so much for his Gran (and his little pet pig Hamlet) that he's wil...

Welcome to my review of Summer Secrets by Jane Green. I am a huge Jane Green fan and I have read all of her books and loved every one of them! I read this a little while ago but struggled to write a review that made any sense. I figured I best try now... What They Say: June, 1998. At twenty-seven, Cat Coombs is struggling. She lives in London, works as a journalist, and parties hard. When she discovers the identity of the father she never knew she had, it sends her into a spiral. She makes mistakes that cost her the budding friendship of the only women who have ever welcomed her. And nothing is ever the same after that. June, 2014. Cat's life has come full circle. She wants to make amends to those she has hurt. Her quest takes her to Nantucket, the gorgeous New England island where the women she once called family still live. What Cat doesn't realize is that these women, her real father's daughters, have secrets of their own. As the past collides with the present, Ca...

Tracey Reviews Splinter the Silence by Val McDermid Published in the UK on 27 August 2015 this is the ninth book in the Tony Hill / Carol Jordan series. What They Say: "Psychological profiler Tony Hill is trained to see patterns, to decode the mysteries of human behaviour, and when he comes across a series of suicides among women tormented by vicious online predators, he begins to wonder if there is more to these tragedies than meets the eye. Similar circumstances, different deaths. Could it be murder? But what kind of serial killer wants his crimes to stay hidden? Former DCI Carol Jordan has her own demons to confront, but with lives at stake, Tony and Carol begin the hunt for the most dangerous and terrifying kind of killer - someone who has nothing to fear and nothing to lose . . ." What Tracey Says:  A new Val McDermid book is one of the highlight of my reading year. The author's great skill is in developing a cast of realistic characters and throwing them...

I asked Liz to write a guest post for me to coincide with the publication of her debut novel, Five Go Glamping. We've been chatting about the fact that I live on a bus and what it's like to live in a small space, rather than just to spend a few days in one on holiday. This piece is exactly what I was talking about! I love it and I'm so glad Liz was willing to do this for me! Five Go Glamping - The Blurb Glamping Check list Festival tickets Double check best Instagram filter Avoid thinking about work/Connor/five year plan!! A four day break from her hectic life to relax in the countryside and hang out at a local festival (for free!) is just what Fiona Delaney needs. With her best friends, great tunes and a cool looking hat her Instagram shots are going to look A-Mazing! Until suddenly glamping starts to feel a lot more like camping and Fiona’s in desperate search of a comfy chair, wi-fi and a chilled glass of wine. But when she finally makes it to the local pub she...

  Welcome to my stop on the Blog Tour for Sole Sister by Brooklyn James!   I am a huge fan of Brooklyn and her books and was so, so excited when I learned of a sequel. It’s the book fans have been waiting for: Kat’s story is finally here! As the second instalment in the Boots My Mother Gave Me series shifts focus onto the younger of the LeBeau sisters, readers are sure to find themselves once again enthralled  and moved by Brooklyn James and her wonderful storytelling.  What They Say: The second book in The Boots My Mother Gave Me series, Sole Sister picks up several years later, continuing the story of Harley LeBeau and her rebellious sister Katrina ‘Kat’ LeBeau. Relocating to Nashville to be closer to Harley and Miah, Kat aspires to launch her Sole Sister fashion line. A gutsy and impromptu plan suddenly lands her on the cover of The Ville Spill—the local celebrity gossip rag—alongside country music’s latest heartthrob, giving Sole Sister the push it...

  Welcome to my stop on the Daphne DuMaurier blog tour!   Daphne du Maurier is one of the best-loved writers of the 20th century.  Written with a page-turning mixture of passion, suspense and intrigue,  these are novels with genuine cross-generational appeal.  In addition to our new series style, we will be launching editions especially for the young adult market. I don't really read many classics as I normally struggle to relate to them, but this blog tour intrigued me so I said yes with no hesitation and chose to read Rebecca for the first time. What They Say: Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier tells the story of a young, unnamed protagonist who meets a handsome, older gentleman, Maxim de Winter, in Monte Carlo. It is well-known that Maxim's widely adored wife Rebecca, has recently drowned at sea and the local people of Maxim's home county are devastated. The main character quickly falls in love with Maxim and the couple enter into a whirlwind...

As a proud member of #TeamMilly, I was super excited to receive a beautifully packaged copy of this wonderful book and a goody bag from the launch party, which I was unable to attend. The book is so gorgeous, inside and out! What They Say: Connie Diamond has always been her husband Jimmy's best girl or so she thought. But then she discovers that he s been playing away for the past twenty-four years, and that the chocolates she believed he bought her as a sign of his love were just a cover-up, and she is determined to get revenge. Along with Della Frostick, Jimmy's right-hand woman at his cleaning firm, Diamond Shine, Connie decides to destroy Jimmy's life from the inside. Together they will set up a rival business called Lady Muck, and along with the cleaning ladies who meet at the Sunflower Café, they'll make him wish he had never so much as looked at another woman. Then Connie meets the charming Brandon Locke, a master chocolatier, whose kind chocolate-brown ey...

I am a big fan of Lisa Jewell and I always get really excited when she has a new book coming out. Her last book, The Third Wife was a firm favourite of mine last year and has haunted me ever since, so I was over the moon when I got accepted to read this on Netgalley. What They Say: You live on a picturesque communal garden square, an oasis in urban London where your children run free, in and out of other people’s houses. You’ve known your neighbours for years and you trust them. Implicitly. You think your children are safe. But are they really? Midsummer night : a thirteen-year-old girl is found unconscious in a dark corner of the garden square. What really happened to her? And who is responsible? What I Say: Wow! That was my first reaction when I turned the last page of this book. I mean, just, wow! That was intense! Ok, so this book is set in an idyllic communal garden community. The kind of place I imagine most British children wished they grew up in (and the kind of ...

Hi All! I hope you're having a lovely Sunday We are a little delicate as a result of a few too many cocktails last night. We felt we deserved a night out since we finished yet another bit of wall on the bus yesterday. Believe it or not, 8 pieces of wood took 5 hours to put in. The table and chairs had to come out (we are keeping the original coach set) and be moved so the wall could be built behind them and then they had to go back in. It looks gorgeous now! Realistically, there aren't that many jobs left before we're done... The floor needs to go down which will be really difficult because there are 2 massive trap doors which allow access to the engine and batteries, which obviously we still need to have access to. We are doing a wood floor so we need to figure out how to achieve this. Pain in the butt! But I know it will be worth it when it's done! We need to put the new windows in too. We are keeping the original windows, but have built new window sills and w...

Today on Tishylou's World, I'm very excited to have the super-talented Tammy Cohen sharing her thoughts on writing about missing children, which is the theme of her new book, First One Missing. Here is the blurb for First One Missing... There are three things no one can prepare you for when your daughter is murdered: 1. You are haunted by her memory day and night. 2. Your friends and family fear you are going mad. 3. Only in a group with parents of other victims do you ever find comfort. Welcome to the club no one wants to join. It has been four years since seven-year-old Megan Purvis was found murdered on Hampstead Heath. Her mum has set up a self-help group for families who have been through the same ordeal.  The group provides solace for the families of Megan (who disappeared from the playground), Tilly Reid (who never returned from a trip to the shop), and Leila Botsford (who failed to meet her mum, after school).  Now, Poppy Glover is missing, after van...

Hi all! I am so, so sorry I am being a very absent blogger! As you know, we have been converting our bus in preparation for our big adventure. Well, I really didn't think it would be soooo time consuming, but my goodness, is it! We are wood panelling the whole interior and each piece of wood has to be cut and measure with such precision due to the fact that the whole bus is curvy and it's an absolute nightmare and takes forever! Progress has been very slow the past few weeks but things have started to fall into place for us to finally finish our home. Lots has changed though. We now have a settee with cushions, I just need to get the covers and matching curtains made. Storage has been built and plans for use of the garage are being sorted out. We're picking fabrics and colour schemes now, which is fun! We also think we have decided not to travel very far very fast. We think we may either get a plot of land and just live off grid OR we will meander slowly to wherever i...

First of all I have to apologise. I'm writing this review on my phone and I have no idea how it will turn out. Also, I have to apologise for not reviewing this book sooner but I think I have finally found the words. What They Say: Audrey can't leave the house. she can't even take off her dark glasses inside the house. Then her brother's friend Linus stumbles into her life. With his friendly, orange-slice smile and his funny notes, he starts to entice Audrey out again - well, Starbucks is a start. And with Linus at her side, Audrey feels like she can do the things she'd thought were too scary. Suddenly, finding her way back to the real world seems achievable. Be prepared to laugh, dream and hope with Audrey as she learns that even when you feel like you have lost yourself, love can still find you . .  What I Say: I absolutely cannot believe that this is the first YA book Sophie has written. Everything about Finding Audrey is perfection. Audrey herself is one o...