Review: Last Stop on the Winter Wonderland Express by Rebecca Raisin

 It's no secret I love Rebecca Raisin's sweet, clean romance reads. Last Stop on the Winter Wonderland Express was yet another great read, and lots of fun too.

Aubrey has been left at the altar and even though she is heart-broken she decides to go on the Honeymoon. They were to take The Winter Wonderland Express to Lapland. Now it's a Honeymoon for one.

Last Stop on the Winter Wonderland Express is a light, easy read and Aubrey is a fun character. She doesn't take herself too seriously.

Embarrassed by the fact she is a bride left at the altar, Aubrey says her husband died. Now it's said she can't unsay it.

The singles all get together on the train and form the Unlucky in Love Club. Can the Winter Wonderland Express turn unlucky in love into lucky in love?

I had the most wonderful trip travelling on the Winter Wonderland Express through Paris, Belgium, Hamburg, Copenhagen and Stockholm. Stopping off and seeing all the sights on the way. Then spending Christmas day in Lapland.

Rebecca Raisin is the queen of destination fiction.

Filled with wonderful characters, loads of fun and a sweet ending. Last Stop on the Winter Wonderland Express is a must for romance readers.

I'm not particularly keen on eBooks but Rebecca Raisin's books are my exception.

My rating 5 / 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Publisher: Boldwood Books

Publication date: 13th August 2025

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 282

Source: eCopy via Netgalley

#laststoponthewinterwonderlandexpress #rebeccaraisin #romance #ireadromance #australianauthor  

Winner of a copy of Loving Lizzie March Announced!!

 I will be posting new giveaways in the first week of every month. (Well, I'll try).

Bookmark my page and check back often so you don't miss a giveaway.

A huge thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway for paperback copies of Loving Lizzie March & Victoria.  The giveaway closed on the 30th September 2026 and the winner was randomly selected (using Wheelofnames) from all entries.

Congratulations to........ 

The winner has been notified and has seven days to provide a mailing address.

 

Please check under the Giveaway tab (which is in the drop down menu top right on a mobile device) for more great giveaways!

Review: The Chill Panda by Joseph Rodrick Law

8 LESSONS FOR DEALING WITH CHANGE IN WORK AND LIFE

I have never been one for self-help books; however I quite enjoyed the way The Chill Panda is presented as a story based on a mythological narrative of a mystical mountain. The mountain is said to hold the treasures of wisdom and power and is guarded by The Wise Panda.

Tom was trekking in the forest and having misplaced his phone on the way has now lost track of time. He is on his way to the mystical mountain and after becoming completely lost he comes across Elvis, the wise panda. Elvis agrees to help but first he must listen to a story.

Elvis has Tom looking at his own life and what makes him happy and fulfills him. The story involves the 8 lessons of life.

Finding inner peace and happiness

How to find your purpose in life

Attaining balance and equilibrium

Mastering emotions and overcoming fear

Making peace with stress and change

The dichotomy of action vs nonaction

Leadership lessons from nature

The art of being mindful

The Chill Panda is a guide for all who wish to live with integrity, compassion, peace and acceptance of change.

This is a book of timeless wisdom guiding readers to relieve stress and find inner peace.

The Chill Panda is the perfect read for busy professionals; it's compact and short however packs a powerful message.

Joseph Rodrick Law is an entrepreneur, investor, best-selling author, visiting professor, philanthropist, and Guinness World Record holder.

My rating 4 / 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Publisher: New Holland Publishing

Publication date: 15th March 2026

Genre: Non Fiction / Self Help

Pages: 108

RRP: AU$19.99 (paperback)

Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Banyard PR

#thechillpanda #lessonsforlife #selfhelpbooks #josephrodricklaw #mindfullness #dealingwithchange #ausbookbloggers 

Review: Out of the Blue by Penelope Janu

 Out of the Blue by Penelope Janu is a romance novel with added depth. The themes of PTSD and environmental issues add weight to this emotional and thought-provoking story.

I was excited to learn that Kit Thorsen's brother, Seb, is a main character in Out of the Blue. I loved Kit and Mackenzie's story in The Summerfield Saddler. Kit was fiery and kind-hearted in equal measures and I was keen to see how his brother would be portrayed. Those Norwegian men!! Anyway I digress. As you can see I still haven't gotten over Kit. 😍

Flick suffered debilitating PTSD after witnessing a plane crash and Penelope Janu portrays the limiting affects of this disorder and how it can seriously narrow a person's life choices.

Flick is selected to take part in a mission to investigate the environmental implications of an increasing human population in Antarctica.

Flick is a bird specialist (ornithologist) and I enjoyed all the information on different birds, which I found quite interesting.

Sebastien Thorsen is everything you want for a love interest, broody, mysterious, kind, patient and handsome.

I always find a first person narration hard going and large amounts of dialogue drag the story for me. So this did affect my enjoyment of the book.

I liked the mention of characters from previous books and their connection to this story.

My rating 3 / 5 ⭐⭐⭐

Publisher: HQ Fiction

Publication date: 26th May 2026

Genre: Contemporary Fiction / Romance

Pages: 416

RRP: AU$34.99 (trade paperback)

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

#outoftheblue #penelopejanu #australianauthor #ausbookbloggers #contemporaryfiction #harlequinaustralia #romance 

Book Giveaway: Loving Lizzie March + Victoria

 Late again this month! 

For my September giveaway I've gone back into the archives and found two books that were released in 2021 and 2017.

I have two crime novels lined up for next month.

This month's giveaway is for a paperback copy of Loving Lizzie March and a paperback copy of Victoria. One is a contemporary romance the other is an historical fiction. Both books are great reads. Plus lots of extra reading themed goodies.

Loving Lizzie March by Susannah Hardy

About the book:

Life is not going to plan for failed fashion designer Lizzie March, until she finds herself pregnant to super-hot bad boy Jake Wheeler.

Convinced that he's The One, all she has to do is make him realise that she is The One for him!

But is it possible she's been looking for love in all the wrong places? Maybe everything she has ever wanted is right under her very own stilettos.

Victoria by Daisy Goodwin

About the book:

In 1837, less than a month after her eighteenth birthday, Alexandrina Victoria – sheltered, small in stature, and female – became Queen of Great Britain and Ireland. Many thought it was preposterous: Alexandrina — Drina to her family — had always been tightly controlled by her mother and her household, and was surely too unprepossessing to hold the throne. Yet from the moment William IV died, the young Queen startled everyone: abandoning her hated first name in favor of Victoria; insisting, for the first time in her life, on sleeping in a room apart from her mother; resolute about meeting with her ministers alone.

One of those ministers, Lord Melbourne, became Victoria’s private secretary. Perhaps he might have become more than that, except everyone argued she was destined to marry her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. But Victoria had met Albert as a child and found him stiff and critical: surely the last man she would want for a husband….

Drawing on Victoria’s diaries as well as her own brilliant gifts for history and drama, Daisy Goodwin, author of the bestselling novels The American Heiress and The Fortune Hunter as well as creator and writer of the new PBS/Masterpiece drama Victoria, brings the young queen even more richly to life in this magnificent novel.

GIVEAWAY

Enter via the form below to win a paperback copies of Loving Lizzie March & Victoria. The giveaway is open to Australian addresses only and entries close at 6pm AEST on 30th September 2026.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED 

Review: High Protein 100+ fuss-free recipes by Faye James

Packed with over 100 fuss-free recipes and seven weeks of meal plans with weekly shopping lists High Protein 100+ fuss-free recipes is your complete guide to balanced protein-fuelled living.

Faye James is an Accredited Nutritionist and leading voice in nutrition, wellness and women's health.

"When we begin to eat the right kinds of protein we feel fuller for longer. We gain lean muscle and shed stubborn fat. Our bones get stronger, our cravings disappear, and our moods finally stabilize." - Faye James High Protein 100+

Faye James answers our most pressing questions about protein. How much protein do we need? What are the best sources of protein? What is the role of protein in menopause? The signs your not getting enough.

The book is set out in seven weeks of meal plans. With the current week's meal plan set out and on the adjoining page is a full shopping list. All you will need to make every recipe that week. Many ingredients will already be in your pantry. Following is each recipe with a full colour photo on the opposite page.

Each week's meal plan has breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner. Simple, delicious meals. Most recipes serve two with some serving 4 and used for two meals; a dinner then the next day's lunch.

Every recipe has serving size, preparation time, calories, carbs, protein and fat content. The recipes can be easily adjusted to suit your requirements and taste. I would need to adjust spice levels.

Looking through the recipes there were only a handful of ingredients that I hadn't come across before and on checking a large local supermarket online all were available except one item which you would need to buy from a delicatessen.

High Protein 100+ fuss-free recipes is a recipe book I guarantee you will use every day. There is an array of flavour on the menu and recipes packed with protein to keep your body fit and healthy. Don't forget desserts and snacks. It's all included in this protein packed recipe book.

 

Pork, Ginger and Green Onion Patties 

Slow Cooker Honey Teriyaki Chicken & Rice - 

My rating 5 / 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Publisher: New Holland Publishers

Publication date: 26th April 2026

Genre: Non Fiction / Cookbook

Pages: 244

RRP: AU$29.99 (paperback)

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

#highprotein100recipes #cookbook #sciencebackednutrition #weeklymealplans #australianauthor 

Review: The Paris Bookshop for the Broken Hearted by Rebecca Raisin

 I simply loved every minute of reading The Paris Bookshop for the Broken-Hearted.

Rebecca Raisin has delivered a heart-warming story filled with likeable characters and a main setting of a magical bookshop that brings together lonely hearts. What's not to love!!

CoCo Chevallier is back home in Paris, with thirteen year-old Eloise in tow, after her partner, in love and business, destroyed their business and left her almost penniless. As CoCo tries to rebuild her life, and placate a temperamental teenager, she comes across the Bookshop for the Broken-Hearted and its eccentric and intuitive owner, Valerie.

I loved all the bookish talk and how the bookshop brought people with all different personalities together through a book club.

Rebecca Raisin includes just enough French words to give that true Parisian feel to the story. Words that are easily recognisable to even this non French speaker.

It was also a pleasant surprise to have Anais from Christmas at the Little Paris Hotel (which I reviewed on Goodreads) drop into the story. It's always nice to revisit characters from previous books.

I loved the inclusion of the delicacies and sights of Paris. Rebecca Raisin is the queen of armchair travel. And I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent in Paris.

And of course there is a love interest, but it's a stormy start and a few road bumps to maneuver before their happy ending.

This sweet enemies to lovers RomCom, with its beautiful setting, fun characters and little mysteries, is a must for romance readers.

My rating 5 / 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

Publisher: Boldwood Books

Publication date: 3rd February 2025

Genre: Romance / Romantic Comedy

Pages: 314

Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Netgalley

#theparisbookshopforthebrokenhearted #rebeccaraisin #australianauthor #romcom #sweetromanceread #bookssetinparis #romance #ireadromance #ausbookbloggers