About Me

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hi, I am a 40+ year old who loves jewellery and all things sparkly. I also enjoy trying out and reviewing new makeup products, finding stylish walking sticks, reading and writing book reviews. I will review anything from bird tables/ hedgehog houses to the latest fashion! My Instagram account is @sparkling_magpie

Wednesday 8 February 2023

Book Review: The Boss’s Stolen Bride by Natalie Anderson

The Boss’s Stolen Bride is written by Natalie Anderson and published by Mills & Boon Modern.

Darcie, Zara and Zack had grown up in a group care home and created a family type unit. When they left the care system Zara had a baby. She worked nights and Darcie days to ensure that the baby, Lily , was care for. Sadly Zara died and Lily went into the care system. Darcie has kept in touch with Lily, as she is her goddaughter, and want to foster/adopt her, to do so she needs to get married.  She tries persuade Zack to marry her by paying him. Unfortunately he vanishes with the money. For the past 2 years Darcie has worked for billionaire Elias Grayson but handed in her notice as she wants to concentrate on adopting Lily. Elias needs Darcie to help him complete a business deal and after they row first at his office, then at the registry office after Zack backs out of marrying her, he decides they can get married in Las Vegas. 

Now Darcie has her groom and he has his irreplaceable assistant but will they function as a family?

I enjoyed this book and read it in one sitting. It seemed like the author really enjoyed writing this book. Elias and Darcie are both likeable characters. Darcie seems more determined and foreword thinking than the formulaic M&B heroine whilst Elias does have most of the normal hero pointers of a M&B character he does sometimes come across as being unsure and unconfident. It was interesting that although this as M&B Modern romance there were 2 main storylines, obviously the romance but also Lily’s adoption. The storyline didn’t focus on describing fancy, expensive places but the instead the characters themselves, how they developed, bickered and grew as individuals and a couple. 


I love Mills & Boon UK and I think you will too! Click my personal referral link to get a discount on your first purchase http://rwrd.io/f4yjeqp?c 

I received this book via Netgalley and Mills and Boon in exchange for a honest review. I am a #MillsAndBoonInsider #netgalley #gifted








Sunday 5 February 2023

Book Review: A Season Of Flirtation by Julia Justiss

A Season of Flirtation is a Regency Romance and the first in the Less Likely to Wed series.  that reveals the social snobbery and social strictures that restricted the lives of those who aspired to be or were part of the Ton. Lady Laura Pomeroy and her family started her life in the country, part of the less important gentry. Her father, unexpectedly, became Marquess of Carmelton. They now have a place in Town and she is enjoying being part of the Season, although she has no desire to get married as she feels this would affect her study and enjoyment of mathematics. 

She becomes friends with Susanna Rochdale, a member of a prominent banking family, and agrees to teach her how to flirt and act when trying to catch the attention of someone in the Ton. Her brother, Miles, a banker, also decides to attend these etiquette lessons as he is suspicious of the Ton after getting his heart broken by a debutante previously as a banker wasn’t regarded to have good enough social standing and is waiting for any chance when he can cancel the lessons. He is tall, dark, handsome and an inverted snob. He doesn’t want her to marry someone from the upper class Ton but from their own class, preferably a banker.

Miles discovers that Laura is a kind, lovely person. Unfortunately her father invests her dowry and family money unwisely and it is lost. She loses her position in the Ton and it is though they will have to sell their townhouse and move back to the country. Miles comes up with a plan to save her family’s finances but will they be able to overcome all the other issues and be together? 

 This is a very gentle romance. The first 2/3 of the book are very slow moving but it does speed up in the latter part. The characters are likeable, drawn together with a love of maths they would be the geeks of yesteryear which is rather sweet. I don’t always enjoy historical romances but this one is rereadable and I look forward to reading the other two in the series. 

I love Mills & Boon UK and I think you will too! Click my personal referral link to get a discount on your first purchase http://rwrd.io/f4yjeqp?c 

I received this book via Netgalley and Mills and Boon in exchange for a honest review. I am a #MillsAndBoonInsider #netgalley #gifted












Saturday 4 February 2023

The Secret She Must Tell The Spaniard by Clare Connelly

The Secret She Must Tell The Spaniard is written by Clare Connelly and published by Mills and Boon Modern. The novel combines several themes including secret baby, young love, betrayal, abandonment and reconciliation. 

Alicia was 16 and Graciano, 18,  when they had an affair. Alicia’s father, a minister for the church, accuses Graciano of assaulting Alicia and she stays silent. Graciano leaves, lives on the streets for a while and then slowly builds a financial empire. Alicia is thrown out by her father and sent to live with her Aunt and has a baby. She rings Graciano to tell him that she is pregnant but he rebuffs her. Her father tells her that if she ever has contact with Graciano  he will have him arrested for sexual assault. She has established a charity and is a well known event planner.

They meet 10 years later at Alicia’s charity event. She is auctioning her services as an event planner to raise money for her charity. Graciano wins the auction and takes her to his private slabs to plan his event. 

The attraction between the pair is still there and as they compare notes over what happened in the past they realise both have made mistakes and misunderstandings are ironed out. They succumb to the attraction but Alicia has to rush home when her daughter has accident. This is when Graciano discovers he has a nine year old daughter. He threatens to take Anne away then he reads the baby book Alicia has made for him and declares his love for her. 

Reading back the synopsis I have just written I should have enjoyed this book but I didn’t. The characters weren’t particularly likeable. Even by the end of the book Anne (the daughter) didn’t know Graciano was her father. The daughter is hardly mentioned throughout the book which is strange considering it is a secret baby trope book. Alicia made one phone call to tell him he was going to be a father then for the next nine years didn’t bother making contact, but she thought about it every day. The ending seem very rushed without the characters properly processing the fact that all their lives had changed now Graciano was in the picture. I think this is the first one of her novels that I have struggled to reach the end of. 

 I love Mills & Boon UK and I think you will too! Click my personal referral link to get a discount on your first purchase http://rwrd.io/f4yjeqp?c 

I received this book via Netgalley and Mills and Boon in exchange for a honest review. I am a #MillsAndBoonInsider #netgalley #gifted


Book Review: Secret Son To Change His Life by Alison Roberts

This is a second chance at love novel from the Mills and Boon Medical genre. The book is written by Alison Roberts and is the first in the Morgan Family Medics mini series.

Brie and Jonno are both paramedics. They had a one night stand 6 years ago which resulted in Felix, their little boy. Unfortunately Jonno disappeared after their night together and so he doesn’t know about Felix. Brie did try to find him but her search was fruitless. 6 years later they meet again during a call out that has turned violent. She finally gets to tell him about his son. At first he is angry, but then he is her rock when Felix has complications from his spina bifida. The attraction between Brie and Jonno is still there but will it survive all the stresses that are in their lives? 

I enjoyed the fact that the reader was not overloaded by medical jargon. As the author used to be a paramedic there was just the right balance between romance and medicalease.  Reading the notes to reader, the second book - How To Rescue The Heart Doctor - will be using the same characters as  the first, focusing not only on the found a son with health issues storyline but also father son/ older couple finding love again storylines which sounds an enjoyable read. 


I love Mills & Boon UK and I think you will too! Click my personal referral link to get a discount on your first purchase http://rwrd.io/f4yjeqp?c 

I received this book via Netgalley and Mills and Boon in exchange for a honest review. I am a #MillsAndBoonInsider #netgalley #gifted