Title: Beneath the Moon and the Stars
Author: Holly Martin writing as Amelia Thorne
Publication Date: 18 October 2014
Publisher: Carina UK
Twitter: @Amelia_Writes or @HollyMartin00
Blog/website: https://hollymartinwriter.wordpress.com/
Rating: 4 out of 5
Blurb
Home, sweet home…
Joy Cartier has been to some of the most beautiful places in the world – but none of them have ever felt like home. So moving into a tiny cottage in the idyllic village of Bramble Hill, walking distance from her childhood home, seems like the perfect plan.
That is, until she gets there. The surly inhabitants of Britain’s Friendliest Village are anything but welcoming. Even her neighbour, reclusive Hollywood star Finn Mackenzie, takes one look at her and walks in the other direction.
But when the village animosity steps up a gear, it is the infuriatingly brooding Finn who keeps coming to her rescue. Slowly Joy begins to realise that maybe a happy home isn’t about where you live, but who you’re with…
Review
Beneath the Moon and the Stars tells the story of Joy Cartier. Orphaned as a teen and jumping from job to job as an adult, Joy has nowhere to call home.
When a cottage in Bramble Hill becomes available, Joy returns to the village just over the hill from her childhood home, Blueberry Farm. She feels like she is coming home. However Joy doesn’t get off to the best of starts in “the friendliest village in the world”. The villagers take an immediate dislike to her and do their utmost to drive her away. Joy’s grumpy but hot neighbour, Finn, immediately makes it clear that he is not happy with having Joy as his new neighbour. He has recently had his heart unceremoniously broken by his ex-wife, Pippa, and is not keen to become involved with anyone else, particularly not another beautiful redhead. Fortunately Finn’s best friend, Casey Fallowfield, is much more welcoming.
An enjoyable subplot revolves around Joy’s secretive night time behaviour, creeping out of her house and sneaking off into the dark in the early hours of the morning. Is she involved in the spate of robberies that seem to be happening around Bramble Hill?
Joy is a likeable character and a good person through and through. She is a woman of mystery and works hard to keep her secrets hidden from all around her. The other main characters, 4 gorgeous men named Finn Mackenzie, Alex Cartier, Casey Fallowfield and Zach Fallowfield (not to mention two dogs – Darcy and Billy) are all great fun to read about. They each come with their own story and personalities which adds a few interesting tangents to the main story.
The main plot is great fun and gripped me from the start. Be warned, once you start reading, you won’t want to stop!
This is a chicklit novel and, as such, there is the obligatory romance between the pages and wow, the romance is H.O.T. It is easy to empathise with Joy, particularly in relation to her up-and-down relationship with the complex but drool-worthy Finn, a former movie star with the looks to match.
Under the Moon and the Stars is an easy-reading, sexy and humorous story. It is a well-written and light-hearted romance, full of emotion and with an element of intrigue which keeps the reader gripped until the last page. Overall, I thought it was a great read and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys this particular genre.
About the Author
Holly lives in sunny Bedfordshire in a house with round windows. She studied media at university which led to a very glitzy career as a hotel receptionist followed by a even more glamorous two years working in a bank. The moment that one of her colleagues received the much coveted carriage clock for fifteen years’ service was the moment when she knew she had to escape. She quit her job and returned to university to train to be a teacher. Three years later, she emerged wide eyed and terrified that she now had responsibility for the development of thirty young minds. She taught for four years and then escaped the classroom to teach history workshops, dressing up as a Viking one day and an Egyptian High Priestess the next. But the long journeys around the UK and many hours sat on the M25 gave her a lot of time to plan out her stories and she now writes full time, doing what she loves.
Holly has been writing for 6 years. She was shortlisted for the New Talent Award at the Festival of Romance. Her short story won the Sunlounger competition and was published in the Sunlounger anthology. She won the Carina Valentine’s competition at the Festival of Romance 2013 with her novel The Guestbook. She was shortlisted for Best Romantic Read, Best eBook and Innovation in Romantic Fiction at the Festival of Romance 2014.
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