*Élevée dans le culte d’un père mort avant sa naissance, Chiara découvre, à l’âge de 25 ans, qu’elle est peut-être la fille d’un marin breton. Sous le choc de cette révélation, elle embarque pour l’île de Groix et fait la connaissance de Gabin, prête-plume d’écrivains célèbres, qui devient son compagnon de fortune. Mais ce séduisant jeune homme, arrivé comme elle de la « grande terre », est-il vraiment celui qu’il prétend être ? Et Chiara reviendra-t-elle indemne de son enquête insulaire ?
Lorraine Fouchet signe un roman breton où la tendresse ne reste pas poste restante, où le bateau du courrier est porteur de bien des surprises, où les boîtes aux lettres recèlent des secrets inattendus.

C’est le premier roman que je lis de cette auteure, et j’ai été agréablement surprise. Les histoires de Chiara et Gabin sont tristes, mais la plume de l’auteur et les intrigues rendent le tout plus doux. L’île de Groix y est très bien représentée, et cela donne envie d’y aller ! Un peu déçue par la fin par contre, à chacun de juger. Note : 14/20.

*Laura Foster is a hopeless romantic. It is her most endearing characteristic, yet consistently leads her into trouble. Friends and family look on with amused tolerance – until Laura’s inability to tell reality from romantic dreams causes betrayal and a broken heart.

Taking refuge in Norfolk, Laura is bitterly aware that her rose-tinted glasses have to go. She swears off men, and all things romantic, for good – until she meets Nick, the estate manager of a huge stately home. But Nick has a secret too. And it’s one that Laura, however much she tries, can’t get past her prejudice about.

Just as she was stubbornly a die-hard romantic, so Laura is stubborn about there being no future for her and Nick. But will he manage to change her mind?

Une histoire agréable, même s’il faut un peu de temps pour réussir à apprécier Laura. L’auteur s’y prend habilement pour lier sa personnalité à des classiques de la littérature romantique. Note : 18/20.

*When Marnie Appleton inherited a sweet shop from her grandfather she was determined to do his legacy proud. The shop has been a much-loved feature of the little seaside town of Shipley for years, but now Marnie needs to bring it up to date, and she’s recruited gorgeous new assistant Josh to help. Marnie gets busy redecorating the shop and choosing delicious new sweets to stock, but things are never that simple: new neighbour Isobel, a fame-hungry blogger, is on a crusade against sugar, and she’ll go to any lengths to secure bad publicity for Marnie’s shop. Marnie fights back with homemade sugar-free treats, but with her best friend Beth heavily pregnant, her grandmother Celia recovering from an operation, and her very recently ex-boyfriend Alex returning to Shipley with a new love, Marnie has a lot on her plate. And then there’s Josh, with whom Marnie is struggling to keep her relationship strictly professional…Will both the sweet shop and love flourish?

Une histoire gourmande et agréable. Une lecture parfaite pour se détendre ! Note : 20/20.

*Eight years ago, Emma Montague left behind the strict confines of her upper-crust English life – and rather dull boyfriend – and moved to New York City, where she immediately found success in the world of finance. But her soulless, cut-throat, all-consuming job has only led to another life she didn't want. Answering an online ad, Emma finds a tiny beach cottage to rent in the small town of Westport, Connecticut. It needs work – lots of work. But it's the perfect project to satisfy Emma's passion for interior design and gardening, if her new landlord, Dominic, is agreeable to the small changes she yearns to make. To Emma, Dominic is also something of a fixer-upper. A local handyman with a six-year-old son, he's a world away from the men she should be interested in, but he's comfortable in his own skin, confident, quiet and kind. Slowly, over a shared garden, time spent with his son and late-night conversations, Emma finds herself falling for Dominic. From friends to lovers happens as naturally as the changing seasons. But laying down roots doesn't come easily when two lives as different as theirs merge into one. And Emma will realize that the seeds of happiness must be nurtured and cherished to grow into something strong enough to shelter all their hopes and dreams . . .

J’ai eu du mal à m’intéresser à Emma, et à son histoire. Dominic et son fils sont intéressants, de par leur relation. Mais l’ensemble reste superficiel, et trop rapide. Avec une fin étonnante et décevante. Dommage. Note : 11/20.

*Kate Miller re-made herself from a geeky teenager into the image of modern woman, with a career in glossy magazines, a wedding to plan and a flatmate who was her best friend. Then it all fell apart - spectacularly, painfully and forever. Ever since, she’s hidden in New York, working as a dogsbody for a literary agency. But when her father becomes ill, she has to return to London and face everything she left behind. She spends time with her upstairs neighbour, Mr Allan, an elderly widower, taking long walks along London’s canals and through leafy streets. And she visits her adored but demanding father. But eventually she has to face her friends - Zoe, Francesca and Mac - the friends who are bound together with her forever, as a result of one day when life changed for all of them. Mac is the man she thought was the love of her life. Now they don’t speak. Can Kate pick up the pieces and allow herself to love her life again?

Un très beau roman. Le lecteur découvre Kate et son histoire petit à petit. Plus le suspense monte, plus l’histoire s’intensifie. Pour révéler le passé de Kate et son impact sur sa vie actuelle. Fort, beau et poignant, une belle histoire. Note : 20/20.